Hailey Wagner Summer 2014
AP United States Government & Politics Budris

2014 Summer Assignment

Part B- Military thwarted president seeking choice in Afghanistan Essay

In his article entitled Military thwarted president seeking choice in Afghanistan, Bob Woodward depicts the decision making process President Obama endured when it came to military actions regarding the movement of additional troops into Afghanistan in 2009. Through his account of the events which occurred, the reader is offered great insight as to what the most important factors were to Obama as he made his decision concerning foreign policy in Afghanistan, his management style while dealing with this military matter, and the powers of the Commander …show more content…
More specifically, after reading this article, one can consider Obama’s management style as more of a consultative management style with a slight autocratic element. The reader can detect this through the fact that though Obama sought out the advice of high-ranking, experienced military personnel, including Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, Army General David H. Petraeus, and Army General Stanley A. McChrystal, all of whom argued passionately for the movement of a higher number of troops to Afghanistan, he still ultimately did not comply with their expert advice. While he did listen to what these people, who have had direct military knowledge and were speaking from experience, had suggested, he still chose to go against their guidance and not authorize the 40,000 additional troops they had deemed necessary, only agreeing for the 30,000 plus 10 percent for enabler forces. Despite his failure to take the advice of his professional advisors, he did state that he wanted “everybody to sign on to this [the 30,000 troop deployment authorization]”, showing how he did want his consultants to be okay with his decision. However, while this in itself helps to demonstrate the consultative component of his management style, the fact that he went even further and almost in a way threatened to only authorize 10,000 troops to deploy and “hope for the best” if Defensive Secretary Robert M. Gates did not support the 30,000 troop decision shows how President Obama is completely aware of his almost-supreme power in this situation, thus exemplify the slight autocratic element of his management