McChrystal out, Petraeus in

President Obama has accepted General McChrystal’s resignation and has named General Petraeus to replace him as the man in charge of our military operations in Afghanistan. It’s the smart move, I think. Obama could not easily have co-existed with McChrystal going forward, but replacing him with anyone other than Petraeus would have been seen as reducing our prospects for success. This way, Obama avenges the insult (both to him and to the chain of command) without being perceived as jeopardizing the war effort.
I doubt, however, that Petraeus can salvage that effort by July 2011. The best we can reasonably hope for is that, with Petraeus in charge, Obama will relax that deadline [note: and, of course, get the U.S. embassy and other key administration players on the same page as Petraeus]. But I’m not all that optimistic about this prospect either.
JOHN adds: With the announcement of General Petraeus’s appointment, MoveOn.org has done some airbrushing. They now have removed the “General Betray Us” page from their web site. What a disgusting bunch!