A DIFFERENT KIND OF ‘DECIDER’…. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has now served in two different administrations. As Satyam Khanna noted, David Gregory asked him this morning to compare the “styles” and “temperaments” of Presidents Bush and Obama.
GATES: I think that probably President Obama is somewhat more analytical, and he makes sure he hears from everybody in the room on an issue. And if they don’t speak up, he calls on them.
Q: A marked difference from his predecessor?
GATES: President Bush was interested in hearing different points of view but didn’t go out of his way to make sure everybody spoke if they hadn’t spoken up before.
TP has the video.
This isn’t especially surprising — Obama is more analytical than Bush? You don’t say — but it’s nevertheless interesting that Gates was willing to acknowledge this on “Meet the Press.”
Indeed, one wonders just how many times it was Gates who wanted to be heard in the Oval Office, but was discouraged from speaking his mind.
