Hey we all know that many in the audience are hoping for flag rank. How many will have a background and language skills to titrate their
Can Do” attitudes with the judgement needed by military officers in our democracy (republic)! I believe six generals have made it to the Presidency. No Admirals. Is that too many or two few? Elective office and appointed office are very different creatures and their products even more so.

For a number of years I have argued with many and posted comments on several blogs the premise that OBAMA was the last US President who will be allowed to be totally ignorant of International Relations, Foreign Policy and Foreign Affairs? Certainly not hard to document that except for President George H.W. Bush we certainly proved that expertise in foreign affairs was sorely lacking in all the Presidents who followed Nixon. For Nixon, foreign policy and foreign affairs was his lifeblood, hobby and complete reality. Managing domestic affairs only important to achieve his foreign policy goals. WELL, the economic situation masks the fact that the US no longer even controls its own economic situation or fate. Without that the WAR issue would have total precedence with the American public even though filtered by NO DRAFT! Now just an economic draft, with food stamp usage at an all time high. And remember food stamps was a WWII program to deal with the fact that over 1.3 of all drafted men were rejected in their induction physical for malnutrition. Personal footnote! When going through my first active duty physical and dental exam I was behind 10 men each of whom had NEVER seen a dentist in their life. That was September 1967. The Army Dentists, most drafted to deal with wisdom teeth issue in the drafted population were postively thrilled and relieved when I showed up with evidence of superb dental care. A recent report indicates one (1) out of ten (10) adults now on food stamps and one (1) out of four (4) children. So let’s not pretend. The President is choosing to give priority to the wishes of the military/industrial/academic complex to continue to expand, hold, and maintain American protectorates in both AF/PAK and Iraq. Notice the preponderance of military advisors in the final briefs. Even his Chief of Staff has military background int eh IDF (Israeli Defense Force) and still wondering if he has dual nationality? The real importance of the speech is not what impact the President thinks his decision will have on the AF-PAK theatre, whatever his hopes and rationale! The real import of the speech will be his explanation as to why domestic sacrifice must continue to be made by the hungry, powerless, poor, and under-educated to support the militarism of the US and its almost total dependence on a military approach to foreign affairs and foreign policy. We paid a high price for the imbedded fascination and reluctance to confront the national security state by President’s Bush and Clinton and now the time has come to see whether that price will just increase more under Obama. A Presidency is not just about decisions but about the priorities they represent. Tomorrow we will find out truly for the very first time what are the President’s priorities. The take on the speech in my opinion by the foreign press will be much more significant that the US MSM take on the speech. But as always could be wrong, even very wrong.