Friday, May 14, 2010

Alter on Obama's Cold and Bracing Meeting

Newsweek's Jonathan Alter speaks about his observations of Obama. Alter has a new book, "The Promise: President Obama, Year One."
Alter recounts when Obama called Gen. Stanley McChrystal's boss on the carpet, Admiral Mullen, with Robert Gates, and "dressed them down."
McChrystal was behaving as though he set the policy on Afghanistan. Alter described Obama's meeting with Mullen and Gates as "cold and bracing."
When I saw the video below from Nov. 2009, it appeared to me that McChrystal had little respect for Obama's process of determining troop numbers.
Obama does get angry, Alter said. "What he doesn't do is he doesn't flip out," he said. "It's more of a kind of a cool anger, which can be scarier if you're on the receiving end of it. There's nothing nasty about it." Most people like working for Obama, Alter said.

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