Biden chooses retired general Lloyd Austin to be defense secretary - source

[cmarshall]

16 hours ago, Jingthing said:

 

Thanks for expressing your opinion but I think you're exaggerating the problem in this case. Reports are that Joe Biden and Austin had a very good working relationship in the past and there is a societal and military benefit to FINALLY having a black Secretary of Defense.  

You don't understand the problem, which is not about the personal relationship between the president and the secretary of Defense.

 

Here is an excerpt from the Times' editorial against the Austin appointment, which you should read:

 

Senator Harry Cain of Washington was particularly worried that recently retired officers would be too cozy with their friends still on active duty. When Truman sought a waiver for Marshall, Cain opposed the former general for that reason, even though Marshall had already served admirably as secretary of state.

Cain’s concerns were vindicated by history.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/07/opinion/biden-defense-secretary-dod.html?searchResultPosition=1

Edited December 9, 2020 by onthedarkside
fair use

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6 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Geez, we're in the middle of a pandemic even worse than 1918, economic suffering comparable to the great depression, a divided country comparable to the civil war, a sitting president trying to stage a coup and sabotage the peaceful transition of power, active threats from multiple enemy nations, and people are really worried that an obviously well qualified Secretary of Defense candidate has been in the military a little too recently? Come on man! 

Confirm (soon to be) President Joe Biden's picks and lets get on with it. 

I think we've had more than enough of emotion based decisions under Trump.

Lloyd Austin Is the Wrong Choice for Secretary of Defense
He’s had an impressive career, and it’s a historic pick—but there’s a reason generals shouldn’t run the Pentagon.

Why Lloyd Austin is the wrong choice for secretary of defense. (slate.com)

[joecoolfrog]

21 hours ago, 4reaL said:

Guy is being totally led by Obama team it seems.

 

 

 

 

Lets see how many appointments are sacked by Biden because they are not lickspittles , then would be the time to comment on good management.

[cmarshall]

Now that I think of it, appointing a general to be Secretary of Defense is an example of what we otherwise call "regulatory capture," which occurs when the industry that is supposed to be regulated by a govt agency effectively gets control of that agency, for instance, through the revolving door of lucrative jobs likely to be offered to former bureaucrats.  The effect is very much to weaken the intended supervision of that industry.  Regulatory capture is in full force, for example, in the Securities and Exchange Commission, the FDA, the Federal Reserve, and DoD itself, whose last Secretary had previously been a lobbyist for defense contractor, Raytheon.  But not, for instance, at FDIC.

 

In the case of the Dept of Defense the industry that the civilian leadership is charge with regulating is the in-house industry of the military itself, a task which cannot realistically be carried out by a member of the military itself.  

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, cmarshall said:

Now that I think of it, appointing a general to be Secretary of Defense is an example of what we otherwise call "regulatory capture," which occurs when the industry that is supposed to be regulated by a govt agency effectively gets control of that agency, for instance, through the revolving door of lucrative jobs likely to be offered to former bureaucrats.  The effect is very much to weaken the intended supervision of that industry.  Regulatory capture is in full force, for example, in the Securities and Exchange Commission, the FDA, the Federal Reserve, and DoD itself, whose last Secretary had previously been a lobbyist for defense contractor, Raytheon.  But not, for instance, at FDIC.

 

In the case of the Dept of Defense the industry that the civilian leadership is charge with regulating is the in-house industry of the military itself, a task which cannot realistically be carried out by a member of the military itself.  

I can see that your concerns are well founded. However I predict he will be confirmed. The Republicans aren't going to stop him. So it would be up to the democrats to stop him. But they won't because of race politics. Some naive people might say that shouldn't matter. Of course it should matter. The USA is still deeply infected by structural racism. A  first black secretary of defense will be an important element in the long struggle to overcome that. Your issue doesn't exist in a contextual vacuum. The democrats won't stop him.

[onthedarkside]

The issue of Austin's eligibility for the Defense Secretary job now has its own thread:

 

 

[red roger]

On 12/8/2020 at 9:57 AM, CorpusChristie said:

 

  At least Trumps guys didnt start any wars , so, maybe NOT having experience in wars is a good thing 

Hmm....unless you consider arming Saudis in their slaughter of Yemenis I guess Trump's guys didn't start wars but are surely complicit in their perpetuation.

[CorpusChristie]

5 minutes ago, red roger said:

Hmm....unless you consider arming Saudis in their slaughter of Yemenis I guess Trump's guys didn't start wars but are surely complicit in their perpetuation.

 

   The Saudi /Yemen war began in 2015 , one year before Trump was elected , the war began when Obama was POTUS , you would have to bend reality to make the claim Trump started the war

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1 hour ago, CorpusChristie said:

 

   The Saudi /Yemen war began in 2015 , one year before Trump was elected , the war began when Obama was POTUS , you would have to bend reality to make the claim Trump started the war

Trump escalated support Bigly.

[placeholder]

1 hour ago, red roger said:

Hmm....unless you consider arming Saudis in their slaughter of Yemenis I guess Trump's guys didn't start wars but are surely complicit in their perpetuation.

There's also the war in Somalia which was very low key before Trump got involved.