A GOOD DEMOCRAT – AT 9:38 A.M. ET:  There are good Democrats.  There really are.  Occasionally I read about one.  Leon Panetta served with distinction as both CIA director and secretary of defense in the Obama administration.  He has made it clear since leaving government that he was underwhelmed by what he saw in Obamaland.  Now he's warning about our current foreign and defense policies.  From Newsmax:   

Leon Panetta, President Barack Obama's former secretary of Defense and CIA director, dodged when asked if the Islamic State (ISIS) is winning in Iraq, but he said the United States can't defeat them by not confronting them.

The United States and its allies have a good chance of being able to push ISIS back out of Iraq, Panetta said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." "The big question mark in my mind is Syria and just exactly how long is it going to take us to be able to confront ISIS in Syria, because if they had a safe haven there, they may continue to be trouble for a long time.

"I think it's important to understand that this is not an enemy that you can kind of stand aside and not confront," he said.

Panetta hasn't been shy about offering honest assessments of his former boss' performance, even when it has angered the White House. Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett has been critical of Panetta and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates for criticizing Obama in their respective books.

One of the "mistakes" Panetta said Obama made was not acting after Syrian President Basher Assad crossed a "red line" drawn by Obama of using chemical weapons in the country's three-way civil war.

The White House has challenged that, saying ISIS would have taken control of the country by now had Assad been removed from power.

Panetta said he doesn't buy that argument.

COMMENT:  We are now on our fourth secretary of defense in the Obama administration, an extraordinary number.  Ashton Carter has a fine reputation, but he also has a reputation for independence.  He has just taken over, at a critical time.  I have no idea how long he'll last, but he doesn't strike me as the kind of man who'll put up with defeat, or the weakening of the United States.  We may just get number five.

February 16, 2015