The Blame Game

What did General Stanley McChrystal say that was bad enough to get him fired?

Waking up this morning, I googled the Rolling Stones article, determined to find out.

Reading Michael Hastings's account of McChrystal in the heart of his campaign, I was transported back to Krakauer's Where Men Win Glory, the last political non-fiction I'd read about Afghanistan and Iraq. Both authors clearly had a point to make about the war (in Afghanistan and in Iraq). Both intended to convey a message to the American people. I'm not sure Hastings's goal was to get McChrystal fired, but he definitely wanted to instill a sense of doom about our overseas campaign.

Everybody's got a bias--of course--and, for the majority of the American population, a worldview colored by either red or blue glasses. I just wish people would get past their party lines and take some time for critical analysis (and a hearty dose of common sense).

In order for that to happen, though, we've got to turn our pointer fingers back towards ourselves.

Sometimes reporters have a habit of weaving stories together in such a way that one individual is clearly indicted by a slew of evidence: carefully-placed quotations, particular setting details, and stylistic devices that make the most of their rhetorical impact.

What I wonder, though, is if Hastings or Krakauer ever stopped to question what he would have done if he were in the shoes of McChrystal or Bush, respectively.

Furthermore, I'm frustrated by the sentiment tossed around like a balled up piece of scratch paper. It's all so-and-so's fault.

Used to be, for the Democrats, it was Bush. Our failure to prevent 9/11. The economic crisis. The unemployment rate.

But today, the Republicans can't stop wagging their fingers at Obama. Because turns out he can't solve all the problems, after all.

The so-called progress in Afghanistan? Obama's using the same "lights in Kabul" line the Bush administration was using four years ago when there wasn't progress to report.

You can almost hear the "I told you so's" reverberating through the red states.

Saying that the President is hypocritical, though, doesn't solve the problem. Not at all. Do you want to step into his shoes?

I, for one, do not.

Frankly, I think Obama made the right decision by accepting McChrystal's resignation. But I also recognize that's one sticky situation to be in. Leadership, especially effective leadership, is never easy. And when you add staff members' failures or missteps to the mix, frustrations are bound to rise.

Letting a top military official go in the middle of a war is not how things were supposed to work out.

Which, inevitably, is always how things do work.

All in all, it's a complicated situation. Maybe if we can all stop playing the blame game long enough, we'll actually be able to learn to work together--to talk about the layers of the issue instead of arguing about who caused them in the first place.

On Graduating I.

Somehow, when I wasn't looking, the end of my collegiate career snuck up on me--well, the undergraduate part at least. I'm not even quite sure how the last papers got written; presumably, I did it, but the last few days are sort of a blur.

Saying goodbye has been the strangest part of this experience. Everything feels just a little anticlimactic and a little bit bittersweet.

Tonight I went out with a colleague and a professor...I should have done this a long time ago. Every time I think about the caliber of the faculty at Western, I'm quite amazed--and honored--that I've been allowed to form relationships and learn from such a quality and caring group of people.

But now that the last classes have been attended, the last papers written and turned in, I'm not sure what to think.

Like usual, I've been so busy, I haven't had time to reflect on the coming changes. And in a way, the changes won't occur all at once: next week I'll be back at the same job I had before I even started college. Only for three weeks, though.

Tomorrow, I'll go to the newspaper office, finish some billing, pack my stuff up, clean a little, and say a final farewell. It's hard to believe that I'm going to say goodbye to the people I've poured the last three years of my life into. It doesn't seem real that after Saturday, I won't be back in a couple days.

For such a big occasion, there's been a relatively small amount of fanfare. With technology (and facebook), of course it's easier to 'stay connected,' but virtual friendships lose their personality rather quickly.

I guess, all this just goes to say, I haven't felt closure yet. I'm ready to graduate, don't get me wrong, but I'll miss my Monmouth friends--it's been a good three years.