Gates stays on

The official announcement regarding Gates is expected to come next week, and if it does, the choice would be a rare instance of bipartisanship at the top of the cabinet in a time of war. This analyst says this personnel choice would also be an unsurprising choice by Obama and he says Obama insulates himself from partisan criticism that he could mishandle foreign policy if there were mistakes. Gates has strong Republican credentials, so wouldn’t the move risk alienating the liberal wing of the Democratic Party? This analyst says that might be true, but there were never expectations that Obama would take a political 180-degree turn. Gates certainly represents more of experience than change. This professor says Gates has credibility as an agent of change too and one just has to look at his difference from Donald Rumsfeld in the Bush administration. Ideologically, Gates is not seen as a neo-conservative as much of the Bush administration was. This analyst says the potential appointees made by Obama so far indicate that Obama does not appear to be shy to surround himself by people of a very high caliber.