It’s not just Fox News pushing back against a controversial new book today. At the White House this afternoon, all the cable news channels covered Press Secretary Jay Carney’s response to allegations in the new memoir from Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Reporters spent more than a half hour peppering Carney with questions about the book.
In “Duty,” Gates criticizes Pres. Obama’s national security team for routinely phoning military commanders, calling the micromanagement “unthinkable.” Gates singles out Vice President Joe Biden, saying he has been “wrong on nearly every foreign policy and national security decision of the last four decades.”
“The president and the rest of us here simply just disagree with that assessment,” Carney said today. “As a Senator and as a Vice President, Joe Biden has been one of leading statesmen of his time… he’s played a key role in every major national security and foreign policy debate and policy discussion in this administration.”
Carney went on to say President Obama greatly appreciates Gates’ service. Differing opinions is what the president sought when he picked a “team of rivals” for his foreign policy team, Carney says.