McCain’s insult sparks debate over Obama’s military officers

Ever since his 2000 presidential bid, Sen. John McCain has been known for his campaign bus nicknamed, the “Straight Talk Express.”

A famously blunt and direct political figure, Navy war hero McCain’s latest ire has been directed towards a fellow Navy man, Pentagon Press Secretary, Rear Admiral John Kirby. 

{mosads}During a recent North Carolina radio interview, the senator labeled him “this idiot Admiral Kirby” while expressing frustration with a rambling response at a Pentagon press briefing on whether or not the U.S. is losing the fight against the Islamic State terror group as McCain had suggested earlier this month.

As a former Pentagon spokesman and now retired career Navy public affairs officer who knows both McCain and Kirby, while I find this episode somewhat saddening, it should spark a national debate that is long overdue.

Are uniformed military officers serving as the public face for White House actions significantly weakening our armed forces really just President Obama’s “useful idiots,” or are they “good officers,” simply following orders?

Regardless of one’s political views, when examining U.S. military power and prestige these days, facts are facts.

For instance:

The White House is implementing $1 trillion in defense cuts over this decade hollowing out the military like during the 1970s; President Obama admittedly broke the law by failing to notify Congress as required about releasing the Taliban’s 5 top leaders from Guantanamo in exchange for Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl; the Pentagon’s offensive to degrade and destroy the Islamic State is not even close to sufficient; the president and Secretary of Defense fail to even acknowledge that the Islamic State is “Islamic;” roughly 200 of the military’s top officers have been purged under Team Obama; the administration continues to force one social experiment after another on the military; and the list goes on and on.

It’s clear that military men and women swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution, and the President was duly elected by the American people.  Thus they follow orders from the White House on down.  As it should be.

Yet it’s disheartening to see uniformed military officers lending their trusted credibility to back political decisions that are so severely undermining national security.

I feel bad for Admiral Kirby.  I feel bad for General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And their top advisors too.  As fellow career military officers, they must be deeply troubled inside to see our armed forces gutted so badly and the nation being weakened.  And even worse, putting their lifelong professional reputations on the line to explain to the American people why Team Obama defense policies are a good idea.

In their defense, they are just following orders and doing their jobs. 

In Kirby’s case, though he is Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s spokesman, his actual boss is Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, Brent Colburn.  Colburn is a relatively young political operative who was Obama’s national communications director for the 2012 re-election campaign.  Just prior to his post at the Pentagon, Colburn was the chief of staff at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

In Dempsey’s case, his direct boss is Hagel, who although a Republican, was to the left of most Democrats on defense issues during his time in the Senate.  He was among the softest senators on Iran, and key figure behind the “Global Zero” movement trying to abolish nuclear weapons.  A noble thought, but laughable to America’s enemies.  And frightening to our allies that rely on the U.S. nuclear umbrella.

While the Pentagon has declined to comment on McCain’s insult, and some others dismiss it as bluster and have called for an apology, we can’t wish away the underlying problem.  A serious national conversation on this issue is entirely appropriate.

Gordon is a retired Navy commander and former Pentagon spokesman who served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 2005-2009. He is a senior adviser to several think tanks based in Washington, DC.