IF ONLY JFK HAD TAKEN AS MUCH FROM IKE AS THE UR DID FROM W:

The covert commander in chief (David Ignatius, September 10, 2011, Washington Post)
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It's an interesting anomaly of Barack Obama's presidency that this liberal Democrat, known before the 2008 election for his antiwar views, has been so comfortable running America's secret wars.

Obama's leadership style -- and the continuity of his national security policies with those of his predecessor, George W. Bush -- has left friends and foes scratching their heads. What has become of the "change we can believe in" style he showed as a candidate? The answer may be that he has disappeared into the secret world of the post-Sept. 11 presidency. [...]

Bob Woodward, in "Obama's Wars," describes how the president-elect was told the nation's most sensitive secrets on Nov. 6, 2008, two days after the election. "I'm inheriting a world that could blow up any minute in half a dozen ways," he told an aide later. Obama immediately began to master the tools of counterterrorism.

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