Sestak Update

Posted By Pinch

Over on the Instapinch in this post I talked about an old boss of mine who is running for congress.

I haven't been paying huge attention to this one, it being in Pennsylvania and all (with me being in northern Virginia and all), but it seems by all accounts that the House will get a new representative for Pennsylvania's 7th district. Retired Vice Admiral Joe Sestak is leading incumbent Curt Weldon by a healthy margin, something around 50% to 43% of likely voters.

"Leadership" is one of the keys to the realm in all things military, which leads to some head scratching when you see the "hook" that Sestak came up with for his campaign, according to his webpage - "Leadership with a Vision".

Back in the summer of 2005, the new Chief of Naval Operations, ADM Mike Mullen, took over the reins of Navy operations. One of the first things he did after beginning his tour was to “administratively reassign” VADM Sestak from his then-job as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (DCNO) for Warfare Requirements and Programs (N6/N7). According to this Navy Times article that talked about it at the time:

 A source within the Navy Department said there were no allegations of misconduct on the part of Sestak. Rather, he said, the move is being made because of poor command climate.

 “Command climate and how people exercise their leadership responsibilities are key priorities for Admiral Mullen,” the source said, “and this position is one of the key jobs that will help determine the success of the Navy, its people, and its future force structure.”

 
There's no doubt that Sestak has an impressive background to present to the people of Pennsylvania's 7th district - 31 year Naval career as a surface warfare officer, a master’s degree in Public Administration and a Ph.D. in Political Economy and Government from Harvard, a tour in the Office of the President of the United States as the Director for Defense Policy on the National Security Council staff at the White House (which is prominently documented on his web page by pictures of meetings and appearances with President Clinton, which in and of itself is innocuous enough, but still...) etc, so on and so forth. I suppose in one sense I should be happy VADM Sestak is now Candidate Sestak – he might be much better suited for government.

 There are myriad reasons why Weldon is not doing very well in this race. General consensus says he hasn't run a very good campaign. Knowing what is at stake in southwest Asia for not only the US but the free world would be a positive were it not for an unpopular (but vital, in my opinion) war, a topic that in many cases appears to be one of the left's only platform planks. Weldon was the government voice that brought "Able Danger" to the headlines, but that didn't amount to much it seems. On the opponents side, Sestak fit the mold as an ideal candidate for a "Fighting Dem", or a democratic candidate that had military bona fides to counter the oft-accurate claim that Democrats are weak on national security and while not profiled in the article, Sestak could also benefit from what the Washington Post, in this hard-hitting, razor-edged, incredibly politically astute analysis, called a "parade of attractive [Democratic] candidates".

 Without getting into his issue statements from his web site (which could have come directly from Daily Kos - standard potboiler Democratic pabulum), I just keep in mind one thing about "leadership with a vision" and the aforementioned "command climate" - the explosion of applause and full-throated cheers from more than a couple or three hundred officers and support personnel at an all-hands meeting that announced Sestak's replacement in the Pentagon.

Pennsylvania 7th District - vote for the man if you like, but take "leadership with a vision" with a large grain of salt.

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Sestak Update

Over on the Instapinch in this post I talked about an old boss of mine who is running for congress.

I haven't been paying huge attention to this one, it being in Pennsylvania and all (with me being in northern Virginia and all), but it seems by all accounts that the House will get a new representative for Pennsylvania's 7th district. Retired Vice Admiral Joe Sestak is leading incumbent Curt Weldon by a healthy margin, something around 50% to 43% of likely voters.

"Leadership" is one of the keys to the realm in all things military, which leads to some head scratching when you see the "hook" that Sestak came up with for his campaign, according to his webpage - "Leadership with a Vision".

Back in the summer of 2005, the new Chief of Naval Operations, ADM Mike Mullen, took over the reins of Navy operations. One of the first things he did after beginning his tour was to “administratively reassign” VADM Sestak from his then-job as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (DCNO) for Warfare Requirements and Programs (N6/N7). According to this Navy Times article that talked about it at the time:

 A source within the Navy Department said there were no allegations of misconduct on the part of Sestak. Rather, he said, the move is being made because of poor command climate.

 “Command climate and how people exercise their leadership responsibilities are key priorities for Admiral Mullen,” the source said, “and this position is one of the key jobs that will help determine the success of the Navy, its people, and its future force structure.”

 
There's no doubt that Sestak has an impressive background to present to the people of Pennsylvania's 7th district - 31 year Naval career as a surface warfare officer, a master’s degree in Public Administration and a Ph.D. in Political Economy and Government from Harvard, a tour in the Office of the President of the United States as the Director for Defense Policy on the National Security Council staff at the White House (which is prominently documented on his web page by pictures of meetings and appearances with President Clinton, which in and of itself is innocuous enough, but still...) etc, so on and so forth. I suppose in one sense I should be happy VADM Sestak is now Candidate Sestak – he might be much better suited for government.

 There are myriad reasons why Weldon is not doing very well in this race. General consensus says he hasn't run a very good campaign. Knowing what is at stake in southwest Asia for not only the US but the free world would be a positive were it not for an unpopular (but vital, in my opinion) war, a topic that in many cases appears to be one of the left's only platform planks. Weldon was the government voice that brought "Able Danger" to the headlines, but that didn't amount to much it seems. On the opponents side, Sestak fit the mold as an ideal candidate for a "Fighting Dem", or a democratic candidate that had military bona fides to counter the oft-accurate claim that Democrats are weak on national security and while not profiled in the article, Sestak could also benefit from what the Washington Post, in this hard-hitting, razor-edged, incredibly politically astute analysis, called a "parade of attractive [Democratic] candidates".

 Without getting into his issue statements from his web site (which could have come directly from Daily Kos - standard potboiler Democratic pabulum), I just keep in mind one thing about "leadership with a vision" and the aforementioned "command climate" - the explosion of applause and full-throated cheers from more than a couple or three hundred officers and support personnel at an all-hands meeting that announced Sestak's replacement in the Pentagon.

Pennsylvania 7th District - vote for the man if you like, but take "leadership with a vision" with a large grain of salt.

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