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Another Mac Bites the Dust

The big news today of course is the removal of Gen. Stanley McChrystal from command in Afghanistan, with the inevitable comparisons to the two previous Macs who had problems with their commander in chief.

George Will kicks off his commentary on the matter with reference to Dugout Doug here.

Doris Kearns Goodwin provides a decidedly predictable and unenlightening connection to Lincoln’s handling of Little Mac here.

Too bad T. Harry Williams is no longer around to offer his two cents.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 at 2:55 PM and filed under The War in Words.
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Comments (5) to “Another Mac Bites the Dust”

  1. scott s. wrote:

    Doris Kearns Goodwin. Can’t see why anyone would be interested in her thoughts. I see no insight whatsoever. But then, I got a lot out of “McClellan’s War” so thanks for that.

    Posted on 23-Jun-10 at 4:46 pm | Permalink

  2. Mitch H. wrote:

    Yeah, if anyone’s the McClellan in this syllogism, I say it’s Petraeus. He’s politically of interest (certain people shifted after 2008 from trying to recruit Condi Rice to trying to recruit Petraeus for the next presidential campaign), he’s the leader of a school of strategic policy, and he’s being effectively demoted from theatre command to a field command – a lofty one, but still a downward step from CentCom to NATO commander in Afghanistan.

    If McCrystal is anybody, he’s, oh, I don’t know, “Baldy” Smith or Fitz John Porter? I can’t think of any partisans of Lincoln’s who got into it with him while still being a protege of McClellan’s.

    Posted on 24-Jun-10 at 8:53 am | Permalink

  3. Chris Evans wrote:

    I thought McCrystal might be like a John Pope or Joe Hooker in his pompousness and feeling of self importance.
    Chris

    Posted on 28-Jun-10 at 1:02 pm | Permalink

  4. James F. Epperson wrote:

    Well, pompous and self-important does describe both McClellan and MacArthur.

    Posted on 29-Jun-10 at 7:49 am | Permalink

  5. Mcc wrote:

    How can everyone draw so many comparisons of McCrystal to Civil War generals based on one article from a decidedly biased news source? As far as I know, only his staff could make such comparisons, and even at that, very loosely. I think that any general may say provocative things form time to time out of frustration of ignorance, but I’m not sure that’s a basis to judge and compare them with historical figures.

    Posted on 03-Jul-10 at 2:43 pm | Permalink