A KNIFE FIGHT WITH THE MILITARY

President Obama backed off Sunday (10/10) his charge the national Chamber of Commerce is funding its ad campaign against Democratic incumbents in part with money from foreign sources after the New York Times reported it was baseless.

“There is little evidence that what the Chamber does in collecting overseas dues is improper or even unusual, according to both liberal and conservative election-law lawyers and campaign finance documents,” wrote reporter Eric Lichtblau.

“This looks like a matter of projection, since it’s well documented that the 2008 Obama campaign did not put in place address verification software that would have routinely prevented most foreign donations,” wrote Michael Barone in the Washington Examiner.  “In effect they were encouraging donations by foreign nationals.”

The hypocritical attacks on the Chamber are part of a campaign to intimidate businesses which do not knuckle under to Obama administration policies.  Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has made threats to businesses which say Obamacare may force them to drop their health insurance plans.  Economic adviser Austan Goolsbee cited confidential tax information in an attack on Koch industries.  Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont) thinks the IRS should investigate political groups which support Republicans.

President Obama, like President Richard Nixon before him, has an “enemies list,” said former Bush aide Karl Rove, who thinks he’s on it.

The sudden departure of National Security Adviser James Jones indicates Mr. Obama soon may have as poisonous a relationship with the U.S. military as he has with business.

Mr. Jones was doomed after the Washington Post’s Bob Woodward reported the retired Marine general had described Mr. Axelrod and departed chief of staff Rahm Emanuel as “water bugs” who don’t understand foreign policy and are interested only in its short term effects on domestic politics.

But Mr. Jones’ departure three weeks before the midterm elections suggests a White House in disarray, and his replacement by Tom Donilon portends conflict with the Pentagon.

“We could be headed for one of the greatest civilian-military showdowns in decades,” said liberal commentator Peter Beinart.

Mr. Donilon is Mr. Jones’ deputy.  But he made his bones as a political operative, his money as a lobbyist for the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), whose collapse triggered the recession.  He has never served in the military.

According to Mr. Woodward’s book, “Obama’s Wars,” Mr. Jones told Mr. Donilon: “you have no credibility with the military.  You frequently pop off with absolute declarations about places you’ve never been, leaders you’ve never met.” 

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Mr. Donilon would be “a disaster” as national security adviser, Mr. Woodward wrote.

Gen. Jones was expected to leave at the end of the year, since he rarely got to see President Obama, who preferred to deal with Mr. Donilon.  But his departure before the election signalled disarray to voters at home, and to our allies and enemies abroad.

The umbrage the political aides took to his remarks to Bob Woodward (which friends of Gen. Jones say he never made) may have played less a role in his accelerated departure than the review of Afghan policy that is slated for November and December.

The Woodward book makes it plain Mr. Obama’s chief interest in Afghanistan is getting out, which is why he is insisting troop withdrawals begin by July of next year.  The military’s chief interest is in winning, which is why it opposes a hard and fast (and public) deadline. 

Diplomacy by timetable is a bad idea, Washington Post Deputy Editorial Page Editor Jackson Diehl wrote Monday (10/11).

“In the Obama administration, the timetable is becoming an end in itself,” Mr. Diehl wrote.  “It reflects a president who is fixed on disposing of foreign policy problems — and not so much on solving them.”

Gen. Jones was concerned chiefly with the effect de facto defeat in Afghanistan would have on  U.S. national security.  Mr. Donilon shares with the water bugs an emphasis on domestic political considerations.

Mr. Beinart predicts Mr. Donilon will lead “a knife fight” against Gen. David Petraeus, our commander in Afghanistan, and others in the Pentagon who think victory is more important than appeasing the base of the Democratic party.

Mr. Beinart is looking forward to it.  The rest of us ought to fear it.