Ben Smith details Admiral Dennis Blair’s “outreach” attempts to try to convince members of Congress that Chas Freeman isn’t so bad after all. It is not surprising that his pleas are falling on deaf ears. What is astounding is that Blair has now jettisoned the Obama administration’s cover and, with it, a great deal of Blair’s own credibility. No longer can the administration say, “We didn’t vet him.” No, this is the person the administration and Blair specifically are determined to fight for.
At this point one wonders why sanity has not prevailed. Marty Peretz contends:
There are many outraged Democratic congressional figures, outraged at least as much by Freeman’s ideological and strategic sympathy for “People’s China” as by his solidarity with the Saudis and rank hostility to Israel. The outrage is surely there, however. President Obama would be better off acting now than when it will look like an embarrassing defeat for him.
If there are “many outraged Democratic congressional figures,” where are they? And why have they not prevailed upon the administration to reverse course? That should be one interesting Senate Armed Services Committee hearing tomorrow.
