[LegalInsurrection] This isn't the first time we've seen a DefSec push back against the aspirational foreign policy goals of the Obama Administration. Before he was sloppily deposed, Chuck Hagel went on the record several times with information that contradicted the Administration's talking points about ISIS, Syria, and the continuing regional conflicts in the Middle East. Hagel refused to downplay the threat that ISIS poses to the international community, and both he and Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey remained publicly at odds with the Administration over pledges to keep US troops out of combat.Carter is now in the same boat, but he's taken it a step further by criticizing the one provision in President Obama's request that served to ease the fears raised by yet another foray into Middle Eastern conflict.
Obama is quickly losing control of any remaining influence he has on the international stage, and it's not the fault of Carter, or Netanyahu, or any other Choose Your Own Fall Guy; but if there's one thing we've learned over the past few weeks, it's that control is the one thing this Administration thrives on. It doesn't matter if we're looking at good plans, bad plans, or no plan at all, as long as they are the ones with control over the direction of the speeding train.