I Was Elected, Ergo, I Must Be Qualified

It has just been announced by the administration that General Stanley McChrystal has been fired as commander in Afghanistan, following the article in Rolling Stone in which various administrative personnel were criticized by McChrystal. I often wonder how a person who has spent his adult life in military service, with great military accomplishments to his credit, feel when fired by a person that has no military service, did all they could to avoid service, but had the power to hire and fire because they were elected or were given an executive appointment, and are therefore the "boss".

In today's world the election (almost always) or the executive appointment (frequently) has less to do with a person's qualifications for the performance of the particular job, then does the elected or appointed person's "star power", charisma or their financial support to the right people. It seems inconceivable to me that the people that voted for the current president really felt that he was, by experience and accomplishments, qualified to be the president---he was elected because his charisma was greater than his opponent. (I also had severe reservations about the qualifications of his opponent.)

I believe if you could ask every member of the United States Congress (confidentially) who among them did they consider, by reason of accomplishments, intellect, knowledge, character and preparedness for the job, most qualified to be the president, the answer would be Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona. He will, however, probably never be considered seriously for president because he lacks the element of "star power" and charisma to get the attention of the voters. Senator Kyl is one of, if not the, most respected member of the senate. Not for his TV personality but because of his job performance and knowledge of the business of the federal government--as well as possessing those traits mentioned above.

General McCrystal made the mistake of criticizing his bosses. In this day when re-election is the primary mission of all elected officials, he should have realized that his military life was greatly shortened when he spoke those critical words. He forgot the "ego" factor. The performance of his command duties quickly became secondary to that forgotten factor. (I am expressing no opinion on the quality of the General's job performance, that is above my pay grade.)

General McCrystal will, in all likihood, now follow the example of the other fired combat commander during time of war, General Douglas MacArthur, and "just fade away".