For example, the number two person at the Pentagon, the deputy secretary of defense, was actually a lobbyist for one of the major defense corporations, and another major Pentagon advisor had advocated bombing North Korea. Thus, the national security bureaucracy for the most part was staffed by veterans of the Clinton administration who were part of the military–industrial-congressional complex, enthusiastically supported the invasion and occupation of Iraq (opposition to which was Obama’s main campaign issue), and high levels of defense spending. For example, on the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the appropriate level of defense spending, and the role of nuclear weapons in U.S.
By leaving Bush appointee Robert Gates in the Pentagon, placing his campaign rival Hillary Clinton at State, making retired Marine Corps Commandant, General James Jones, his national security advisor, and bringing CIA operative John Brennan into the White House, Obama essentially ceded control of foreign policy, not only to those who did not share his views on foreign policy, but who supported candidates for president who had views on national security issues that were dramatically opposed to his. In staffing his national security team and the bureaucracy, Obama relied too much on what Doris Kearns called the “ team of rivals ,” and the foreign policy establishment, most of whom did not and still do not share his transformational views about the U.S. Obviously unexpected events and partisan resistance have played a part, but there is another more fundamental reason, and that is the team he initially brought into his administration. However, until recently Obama has been anything but, especially in his foreign policy.
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