I Think He's Right About This

Josh Marshall makes a case for Bob Gates, and, in the background, Brent Scowcroft:

One thing to understand about Bob Gates is that he's a Scowcroft guy.

Scowcroft, to the best of my knowledge, never endorsed Obama. But he also, very pointedly, didn't endorse McCain either. And going back many months he's been an important player, far in the background and not for public consumption, in the Obama world. Remember, Hagel, who's sort of been Obama's Joe Lieberman (in the good sense) is very close to Scowcroft. He and Powell are close too. He's the guy who brings all this stuff together.

It's also worth knowing that Scowcroft has also been involved in a multi-year rearguard battle against the neocons in the Bush administration, especially in key efforts trying to block sundry wars with Iran, shut down John Bolton, etc.

I have a lot of respect for Scowcroft (even if he did give Condi Rice her first job in politics) and his worldview, and anybody who's been trying to keep the lid on the neocons earns a tip of the hat from me. Add in people like Susan Rice, Anthony Zinni, Samantha Power, and Anthony Lake, and I think we'd have the nucleus of a formidable Obama foreign policy team.