Denis McDonough: Obama ‘Took On’ Idea That Commanders Should Get ‘Everything’ They Think They Need

During an interview aired on Wednesday’s CNN special, “The Legacy of Barack Obama,” Obama Chief of Staff Denis McDonough stated that President Obama “took on” the idea that a commander on the ground “should be the person who gets everything he needs, as determined by him.”

McDonough said that in not giving the surge of troops his generals wanted in Afghanistan, Obama “took on this idea that the commander-in-chief is not the commander-in-chief, that somehow the commander on the ground should be the person who gets everything he needs, as determined by him.”

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