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Obama chooses Ashton Carter as Pentagon chief

TheDemSocialist

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US President Barack Obama has nominated Ashton Carter, former deputy defence secretary, to be his next defence secretary, replacing Chuck Hagel.
If confirmed for the job by the Senate, Carter will replace Chuck Hagel, outgoing US defence secretary.


Carter has support among Republicans who will take control of the Senate next month.


The 60-year-old has gained a reputation as an expert on hi-tech weapons and military budgets, portraying himself as a reformer intent on making the vast Pentagon bureaucracy more efficient.


While Carter is skilled in weapons programmes and technological trends, he has less experience overseeing war strategy and has never served in uniform - unlike Hagel who served in the military and was wounded in the Vietnam War.


Read more @: Obama chooses Ashton Carter as Pentagon chief

Obama has laid out his nominee. I suspect he will be accepted by the Senate. He is known for his expertise in high tech weapons but has never served in the military. I dont know if that is a problem or not, but some say he does not have enough expertise in the Middle East with that being the hot topic issue within the military.
 
Read more @: Obama chooses Ashton Carter as Pentagon chief

Obama has laid out his nominee. I suspect he will be accepted by the Senate. He is known for his expertise in high tech weapons but has never served in the military. I dont know if that is a problem or not, but some say he does not have enough expertise in the Middle East with that being the hot topic issue within the military. [/FONT][/COLOR]

Obama and the Pentagon's relationship is chilly. I do not see this mattering.
 
Some more info here:

1.)Ashton Carter, a former Defense Department official and Harvard professor, will be nominated to be the next Secretary of Defense at a Friday morning press conference with President Obama.
2.)Carter has a long list of academic and security establishment credentials, as well as a history of bipartisan praise.
3.)His main expertise is in nuclear strategy and he has overseen the Pentagon's weapons procurement and budget.
4.)He has a history of hawkish leanings on certain issues, advocating for a preemptive strike against North Korea in 2006 and calling for a bigger residual force to be left in Iraq when President Obama was withdrawing troops.

REad more @: What you need to know about Ashton Carter, Obama's new Defense Secretary nominee - Vox
 
Carter will probably get confirmed, he's a career guy and #2 at DoD.
 
Bottom line is that Hagel was forced out because he didn't rubber stamp the president's assertion that ISIL is the "JV" of global terror orgs.

As long as this guy is a yes man who knows that his role in the Obama administration is to serve as a dupe to the president's every whim he'll be just fine.
 
Read more @: Obama chooses Ashton Carter as Pentagon chief

Obama has laid out his nominee. I suspect he will be accepted by the Senate. He is known for his expertise in high tech weapons but has never served in the military. I dont know if that is a problem or not, but some say he does not have enough expertise in the Middle East with that being the hot topic issue within the military. [/FONT][/COLOR]

I predict he's easily confirmed.

Of course I can't stop calling him Ashton Kutcher, dammit.
 
Obama's got a yes man.
 
Could have been worse, he could have gone with another Ashton:

photo.jpg
 
New SecDef confirmed with barely a whisper. A scientist who studied physics and medieval history, never served in the military, never ran a organization, and whose accomplishments include countering North Koreas nuclear program. I would have thought we learned our lesson with that budget guy, but nope.
 
New SecDef confirmed with barely a whisper. A scientist who studied physics and medieval history, never served in the military,

Thats a little short on his credentials dont you think?


"He was educated at Abington High School in Abington, Pennsylvania, where he had been president of the honor society, and graduated in 1972. He received bachelor's degrees in physics and in medieval history from Yale University, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa in 1976.[7] He then received his doctorate in theoretical physics from the University of Oxford in 1979, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.[7]

During his time in Oxford, around 1977 to 1979, he was based at St John's College, Oxford working with Christopher Llewellyn Smith, chairman of Oxford Physics, who was a Fellow of the College, and among other duties he served as tutor to physics undergraduates, including Stephen Wolfram who went on to found Mathematica, and Oliver Tickell, currently editor of The Ecologist. He was subsequently a postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University and MIT, and an experimental research associate at Brookhaven and Fermilab National Laboratories.
Ashton Carter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

never ran a organization,
Thats not true
Former Co-Director, Preventive Defense Project, Harvard & Stanford Universities
Former Chair of International & Global Affairs faculty, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University Ashton B. Carter - Harvard - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

and whose accomplishments include countering North Koreas nuclear program. I would have thought we learned our lesson with that budget guy, but nope.
Also an expert on terrorism, missile defense, and limiting nuclear weapons.
 
Read more @: Obama chooses Ashton Carter as Pentagon chief

Obama has laid out his nominee. I suspect he will be accepted by the Senate. He is known for his expertise in high tech weapons but has never served in the military. I dont know if that is a problem or not, but some say he does not have enough expertise in the Middle East with that being the hot topic issue within the military. [/FONT][/COLOR]

Well I don't think I could of picked a worst candidate Obama. Then again, this is the same administration that is currently having Susan Rice playing an active role in the ISIS conflict, I guess this is par for the course.
 
After a couple of minutes, I've immediately thought of a better choice than this nobody political egghead. And the kickers is I bet you would agree with me! But first, I'm curious if you could guess who he is, or if you had another pick in mind....

I dont see why you think his credentials are not worthy. But ok go ahead...
 
I dont see why you think his credentials are not worthy. But ok go ahead...

What about Wesley Clark? He's a Democrat to start out with, and ex military, but has been out since 2000 so he doesn't carry all the baggage of the War on Terror years (Or Iraq for that matter). He has plenty experience working with our European allies from his days as NATO commander, which would be useful at this time you would think. He's a likable guy to, I think, got some nice charisma. He's Chairman I think for an ethanol lobbying group which means he's got your green thing covered as well as knowing a bit about politics.

Actually the more I think about him, I'm kind of shocked he hasn't been considered before now. In any event, I think Clark would be a hundred times more qualified to work as DefSec than Ashton Kutcher or whatever his name is. I wish he wasn't 70, though to look at him he's aged great! If he was the Democratic Presidential Nominee, I'd consider voting for him to be honest.

wesley-clark-635.jpg
 

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What about Wesley Clark? He's a Democrat to start out with, and ex military, but has been out since 2000 so he doesn't carry all the baggage of the War on Terror years (Or Iraq for that matter). He has plenty experience working with our European allies from his days as NATO commander, which would be useful at this time you would think. He's a likable guy to, I think, got some nice charisma. He's Chairman I think for an ethanol lobbying group which means he's got your green thing covered as well as knowing a bit about politics.

Actually the more I think about him, I'm kind of shocked he hasn't been considered before now. In any event, I think Clark would be a hundred times more qualified to work as DefSec than Ashton Kutcher or whatever his name is. I wish he wasn't 70, though to look at him he's aged great! If he was the Democratic Presidential Nominee, I'd consider voting for him to be honest.

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So how does that at all trump Ashton Carter's qualifications?
 
So how does that at all trump Ashton Carter's qualifications?

First off, you know who Kutcher reminds me of? McNamara. Another egghead that had no ties to the military and thought he knew everything because he was considered an "expert". That didn't work out so well, now did it? But even beyond that, how does this new guy help to rebuild bridges to the Pentagon? They don't that's how. Clark is not only a Democrat and well acquainted with the political machine, but he's also a decorated veteran who I'd wager still has a lot of friends on the inside that he could work. And think our current strategic goals at this moment and how many of them involve working with our European Allies. This guy certainly has more experience working with them than this new guy does!

In fact, I'd be hard pressed to find a reason where Kutcher is better than Clark. Can you think of one?

Edit: He even looks like Mac!

mac.jpg

Professor_Ashton_Carter.jpeg
 
First off, you know who Kutcher reminds me of? McNamara. Another egghead that had no ties to the military and thought he knew everything because he was considered an "expert". That didn't work out so well, now did it? But even beyond that, how does this new guy help to rebuild bridges to the Pentagon? They don't that's how. Clark is not only a Democrat and well acquainted with the political machine, but he's also a decorated veteran who I'd wager still has a lot of friends on the inside that he could work. And think our current strategic goals at this moment and how many of them involve working with our European Allies. This guy certainly has more experience working with them than this new guy does!

In fact, I'd be hard pressed to find a reason where Kutcher is better than Clark. Can you think of one?

You do realize his credentials are almost nearly exactly as Ashton Carters right?
 
You do realize his credentials are almost nearly exactly as Ashton Carters right?

To McNamara yes, but not to Clark. Do you even know who Wesley Clark is? Or Asthon Carter? There are some pretty big difference between the two man... By the way, in the lost post I put a couple of pictures up to compare Mac to Carter. If you want to say their similar, then I'm with you on that.
 
Thats a little short on his credentials dont you think?

"He was educated at Abington High School in Abington, Pennsylvania, where he had been president of the honor society, and graduated in 1972. He received bachelor's degrees in physics and in medieval history from Yale University, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa in 1976.[7] He then received his doctorate in theoretical physics from the University of Oxford in 1979, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.[7]

During his time in Oxford, around 1977 to 1979, he was based at St John's College, Oxford working with Christopher Llewellyn Smith, chairman of Oxford Physics, who was a Fellow of the College, and among other duties he served as tutor to physics undergraduates, including Stephen Wolfram who went on to found Mathematica, and Oliver Tickell, currently editor of The Ecologist. He was subsequently a postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University and MIT, and an experimental research associate at Brookhaven and Fermilab National Laboratories.
Ashton Carter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thats not true
Former Co-Director, Preventive Defense Project, Harvard & Stanford Universities
Former Chair of International & Global Affairs faculty, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University Ashton B. Carter - Harvard - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

Also an expert on terrorism, missile defense, and limiting nuclear weapons.

Wait. Your big counter is to basically agree with him on the academics, but point out that he has too run things - he ran a faculty committee! ???


:doh we may be boned.
 
...unlike Carter, Clark has some?

I dare say at least Clark will have some connections with the Military that he's maintained, not seeing it for a political lackey. While I'm certainly not going to agree with everything Clark says, at least I can respect him in the position you know?
 
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