Morning Must Reads — At least Obama knows whose ass to kick this time

If Obama doesn’t fire Stanley McChrystal, will the military ever respect the president?

If Obama does fire McChrystal, does he have any chance of bringing his stalled Afghan surge to any kind of acceptable conclusion?

The amount of bravado coming from the White House in advance of today’s carpet call with McChrystal suggests that Obama will not fire his Afghan commander, or at least not just now.

Robert Gibbs, who is as petty a person as you are likely to find in public life, was questioning whether McChrystal had the “maturity” to lead American forces. Being called immature by a press secretary who does prop comedy at the White House podium is like being chastised for a lack of decorum by Lady Gaga.

Administration friends all piled on for McChrystal and his team’s remarks to Rolling Stone about the president and his war cabinet – it’s especially stinging for Democrats because McChrystal and his boys essentially called team Obama weak and foolish on maters martial.

(Note well that only Hillary Clinton escaped the derision of McChrystal.)

McChrystal is trying to execute his surge strategy with fewer troops than he requested and to do so under the arbitrary timeline imposed by the president as a compromise with the skeptics among his fractious advisors.

The problem in Afghanistan now is that troops are dying in service of the McChrystal strategy, which trades U.S. lives for a deepening sense of gratitude and trust in the local civilian population, but the strategy is not bearing fruit. The rules of engagement put forward to serve the goal – no air strikes, no returning fire, no raids without laborious, legalistic approval – are proving very deadly for Americans, but not fostering the kind of “government in a box” nation building that the president promised.

The Rolling Stone piece tells the heartbreaking tale of a sergeant killed in a building on which officers had begged for an air strike, but were repeatedly rejected because of fears of civilian casualties.

The strategy is stalled, the commander shows contempt for the administration’s hand-wringing, and the president’s political coalition in support of the war (inherited from George W. Bush) has been worn threadbare by conservative worries about a halfhearted commitment and liberal fears of an endless war.

Writers Helene Cooper, Thom Shanker and Dexter Filkins tell us who the president could tap if he decides that McChrystalwas just too sassy to stay.

“Potential successors were thought to include Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez, commander of the NATO military corps headquarters in Kabul, which manages the day-to-day fight in Afghanistan. General Rodriguez is a confidant of General McChrystal and previously served as a senior military assistant to Mr. Gates. Another possibility is Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, in charge of the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command, who has extensive experience in the Islamic world.

Another potential successor is Gen. James N. Mattis of the Marine Corps, currently commander of the military’s Joint Forces Command. General Mattis is a respected war-fighter with experience in counterinsurgency missions. Some have even suggested Gen. David H. Petraeus, who leads the United States Central Command and General McChrystal’s boss and mentor, could take over the Afghan mission himself.

New York Times — Drilling Ban Blocked; U.S. Will Issue New Order

The administration has not been able to go to war with the still-spewing oil leak, but is taking the battle to the economies of the affected states.

A federal judge ruled that the administration couldn’t show why stopping drilling on 33 offshore wells was a logical response to the Deepwater Horizon and sided with the companies that provide services to the oil rigs that said they had been harmed by executive caprice.

Critics say that the administration slapped the ban in place in a panicky response to the public outcry over presidential inaction on the spill. Gulf governors and their counterpart in Alaska had begged for the ban to be lifted and even offered the compromise of putting inspectors on each platform around the clock.

For now, the riggers can keep working, but the administration is appealing the decision and Secretary Ken Salazar, who is looking to get back in the good graces of his boss and the Left, is promising to issue a moratorium so impregnable that not even a judge with a diamond-tipped drill could crack it.

“The ruling on Tuesday was the result of a lawsuit filed this month by a coalition of businesses that provide services and equipment to offshore drilling platforms. The coalition asked the judge to block the moratorium, arguing that there was no evidence that existing projects were unsafe. The state of Louisiana filed a brief supporting the lawsuit, arguing that the suspension would cause irrevocable harm to its economy.

Judge Feldman agreed, noting that “oil and gas production is quite simply elemental to gulf communities.” He portrayed the Interior Department’s record in support of the moratorium as inadequate and misleading, saying that a preliminary injunction was necessary because the suspension would likely be ruled “arbitrary and capricious” after a trial.

USA Today — Inglis becomes fifth congressional casualty of anti-incumbent year

Bob Inglis used to be a fan of term limits, but later changed his mind on the subject. Voters, it seems, did not experience such a change of heart and voted the South Carolina Republican out in a runoff election.

The man who beat him, local prosecutor Trey Gowdy, seems to be a sensible sort who should have little trouble holding on to the seat for the GOP this fall. He’s just more conservative and his answers are less complicated than Inglis’.

Another remarkable story from the South Carolina runoff was that of Tim Scott — a black Republican who beat the son of Strom Thurmond. When the scion of a former segregationist and Dixiecrat turned Republican who symbolized the political shift in the South a generation ago loses because the black guy is considered more conservative, you know that the South, and conservatism, have changed again.

Nikki Haley also came through the fire nicely and is on a gallop to being the GOP vice presidential nominee in 2012. Her victory was so pleasing to South Carolina conservatives that it even got Mark and Jenny Sanford to share a public peck on the cheek.

Out in Utah, Mike Lee beat Tim Bridgewater in what may be considered the final repudiation of Bob Bennett — Bennett, like most of the establishment, had backed Bridgewater. Lee, though seems normal and should be on track to keep the seat red this fall.

“Other congressional incumbents fired by the voters this year: Reps. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va. and Parker Griffith, R-Ala., and Sens. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., and Bob Bennett, R-Utah. Another House incumbent, Republican Gresham Barrett, fell at the hands of South Carolina voters Tuesday: Barrett was running for the GOP gubernatorial nomination and lost to Nikki Haley.”

The Hill — Arizona Democrats urge Obama not to sue over controversial immigration law

Mexico has joined a federal lawsuit against Arizona’s law requiring police to determine the citizenship of those they detain for other crimes, but the suit from the Obama administration, promised by Hillary Clinton nearly a week ago and warned of for more than a month.

Granted, team Obama has been a little busy with the Power Point presentations on effectively displaying anger at oil companies and taking time to find every last copy of “Lessons in Disaster” to burn them in the Rose Garden.

Writer Sean Miller explains that there may be another reason for the delay. The state has three vulnerable Democrats in its congressional delegation and as the administration antagonizes Arizonans over the law, which is widely approved of there and in the country at large, the president risks a wipeout.

The president is trying to get more money for the border security in his current round of spending proposals and previously dispatched 1,200 guardsmen to support roles on the border. When the suit comes, Obama wants his team to be able to say that Democrats care about security.

So far, though, the vulnerable Dems are running away from Obama on the issue.

“Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-Ariz.) on Monday sent a sharply worded letter to President Barack Obama urging him not to sue.

‘I believe your administration’s time, efforts and resources would be much better spent securing the border and fixing our broken immigration system,’ the two-term congressman wrote in the letter. ‘Arizonians are tired of the grandstanding, and tired of waiting for help from Washington. … [A] lawsuit won’t solve the problem. It won’t secure the border, and it won’t fix our broken immigration system.’”

Wall Street Journal — Middle-Class Tax Boost Is Broached

Home sales sank in May, consumer confidence is faltering, the head of the last business group to give Obama the benefit of the doubt ripped into administration policy as “hostile environment for investment and job creation” and unemployment is back on the rise. What better time to start talking about a middle class tax increase?

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is trying to demonstrate that though Congress won’t be producing a budget – a first since fiscal rules changed in 1974 – that the moderate Democrats for whom he speaks inside Nancy Pelosi’s leadership team are serious about fiscal responsibility.

In a speech outlining the chimerical budget cuts that he says are just over the horizon – too far away to begin now but too near to require a long-term budget plan – Hoyer said what was not supposed to be said until December: that those under the $250,000 bright line once discussed by President Obama once spoke of for tax increases will have to start paying more.

Hoyer is only stating the obvious. We’ve already seen the $250,000 line crumble under Obamacare, and given the spending levels of late, everyone is going to be paying more once the bills start coming due.

But first, the election.

Writers John D. McKinnon and Greg Hitt explain:

“Mr. Hoyer articulated what many in Washington had been whispering for weeks—that a short extension of the tax cuts is a possibility, if not a likelihood. It isn’t just deficit politics driving the discussion, but political reality on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers are fatigued from the ambitious legislative agenda pushed since Mr. Obama took office, and there is little appetite for taking on yet another sensitive issue.”

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