SECDEF The Wolf

Interesting profile of SECDEF Gates in the NY Times today. Due to his nature of being capable of cleaning up the proverbial bag of dicks that is our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, NY Times likens him to this Pulp Fiction character:

Mr. Gates’s shifting role can be summed up in terms familiar to the defense secretary, an avid film buff who routinely brings piles of DVDs on long trips and cites favorite movies in conversation to make a point.

In his new memoir, Matt Latimer, a Pentagon speechwriter under Mr. Gates’s predecessor, Donald H. Rumsfeld, compares Mr. Gates to the Harvey Keitel character in “Pulp Fiction” — the one who shows up after the grisly killing to wipe away all traces of blood.

A good analogy, however I disagree with this strawman:

For Republicans, Mr. Gates poses a quandary in assessing Mr. Obama’s national security decisions:do they look at him as a turncoat for dismantling some of Mr. Bush’s policies or as the best hope for moderating changes brought by a Democratic administration?

A turncoat...hardly. It's not like the guy is Arlen Specter or something. It was a logical choice by an incoming administration that faced a wartime transition for the first time in over 35 years. And, as you recall, the rare bit of opposition to SECDEF Gates being re-appointed was from lefties upset because this move would signal that Democrats were weak on national security. The guy could be registered with the Bull Moose party for all I care, as long as he gets the job done, which I believe he is.