January 5, 2007

Optimistic feelings  

1. Josh Marshall marvels at a CBS poll that shows Americans' top policy priorities for the new congress as follows: Iraq 45%; Economy/Jobs 7%; Health Care 7%. What's amazing, especially given the Democrats' legislative priorities, is that putting an end to corruption wasn't even mentioned. Could this be because it wasn't even mentioned in the poll question?

2. Wasn't David Petraeus expected to take Abizaid's job rather than Casey's? I can't find the article I read suggesting this last month, but it left enough of an impression on me that I read Petraeus's biography on Wikipedia, and now I find myself a little bit disappointed that they've chosen an admiral instead for the higher post. Petraeus's experience training Iraqi troops and his PhD dissertation on the "influence of Vietnam on military thinking regarding the use of force" would seem to qualify him especially for the situation in Iraq, so maybe the on-the-ground position does suit him more -- but the suggestion here that putting a naval commander in charge places "a greater emphasis on countering Iranian power" is a little frightening. UPDATE: More about Fallon, the aforementioned admiral, here.

3. And the New York Times has added permalinks, although it apparently happened a full month ago. It's not surprising that I missed the links, given that they're nested two clicks deep and at the very bottom of the menu system, but despite the discouraging design, this is a welcome development. (Note that it is not possible (at least for now) to reconfigure old URLs to obtain permalinks for articles which are now archived -- so four years worth of linked New York Times articles on this site are still essentially worthless.)

Comments
barrett  {January 5, 2007}

Although I personally think they picked the Admiral because he's the only top officer who isn't opposed to the "surge" strategy, there's been some speculation that, while it seems silly to put a naval officer in charge of a land war, it might be ideal to have a naval officer around if you plan to invade the coastal oil-bearing areas of Iran.

It's actually pretty scary.

paul  {January 5, 2007}

exactly! although to be fair i think having a naval officer in charge could just as easily support lesser offensive strategies like missile attacks, airstrikes, or blockades.

Alex G.  {January 5, 2007}

Your point number 1... made me wonder, so I took a look at the pdf of the poll, and there it looks like it was more of a fill in the blank than a multiple choice. I'm not too surprised though by those results. As a whole those are the big concerns, Iraq, the economy, and health care; but ethics reform is probably in the top five and changes to the House rules is something they can do this first week without too much trouble. I think its good politics.

paul  {January 5, 2007}

hmmm... missed that they'd reprinted the whole poll at the bottom, and of course you're right. thanks for the heads up. i'm amazed that ethics reform isn't there though, given the way it seems to have figured in exit polls for the election. i guess people have short attn spans.


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