OH, THESE BORING, HONEST PEOPLE – AT 11:47 A.M. ET:  Former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates has made a new, scathing attack on the foreign policy of the Obama administration, in which he served.  From Daily Caller: 

Former defense secretary Robert Gates, who served during the Obama administration, thinks that President Barack Obama’s national security aides are totally and completely naïve, a naiveté which has brought about disastrous foreign policy consequences.

Gates pointed to deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes and former special assistant Samantha Power, both in their 30s, as prime examples of youth and inexperience run amuck, Politico reports.

As top-level national security advisors, however, Rhodes and Power had Obama’s ear. But for Gates, the absurdly optimistic rhetoric coming from the White House regarding prospects for spreading democracy and human rights through the Middle East has crashed on the rocks.

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  I don't always agree with Gates, but he's an honest public servant.  The views he expressed here are spreading, and I get the sense that they're spreading in what remains of the moderate wing of the Democratic Party. 

Obama has a year to go as president.  His successor will be chosen in 10 months.  My great fear, and I think it is shared by many, is that Obama and his adolescent sycophants will do enormous harm in the time they have left, and that the harm will be mostly in foreign policy.

January 9, 2016