Even Leon Panetta Tells Democrats: Stop Playing Games With Defense, Give Mattis a Waiver

If even Barack Obama’s former Defense secretary is telling Democrats they should give General James Mattis a waiver, you can be darn sure that they’re playing dangerous games that put America (and the rest of the world) at risk.

Several Democratic lawmakers are raising concerns about Congress passing legislation to allow retired Marine Gen. James N. Mattis to be secretary of defense so soon after taking off his military uniform. But President Obama’s former defense secretary Leon Panetta believes Mattis should get the waiver and the job, he told me in an interview.

“It’s important that the Congress in the process of providing that waiver makes sure that Jim Mattis understands that he has to play a role not just on the military side but also on the civilian side. I think he does,” Panetta told me on the sidelines of the Reagan National Defense Forum on Saturday.

Mattis needs a waiver because the law demands that a Defense secretary needs to have been out of uniform for at least seven years. As Panetta points out, however, that rule was established rather arbitrarily and at a time when generals had a “singular role” as warriors, whereas they have much more diverse roles nowadays. To put it rather differently: these days, a general is almost as much a politician as a warrior. They have to be. If they aren’t, they simply don’t make it to the top.

Sadly, many — if not most — Democrats don’t share Panetta’s honest assessment. As ideological leftists, they couldn’t care less about the safety of the country; it’s just a great opportunity for them to play political games and to thwart the Republican president-elect. That’s all that matters to them: scoring cheap political points. That’s why Democrat Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, House Intelligence Committee ranking Democrat Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) say they want to “carefully evaluate” the matter at hand before reaching a decision. In other words: they want to make Trump and Mattis suffer as much as they possibly can. It’s pathetic

In other words: they want to make Trump and Mattis suffer as much as they possibly can. It’s pathetic and downright dangerous, but it’s not exactly surprising. After all, this is how Democrats and leftists have rolled for decades. They’d rather endanger national security than accept defeat.

Tip for the Trump administration: If Democrats keep this up, just declare all-out war on them. Trump has already proven that he can beat both the media and Democrats simultaneously. There is no reason to back off now that the elections are won. In fact, the opposite is true: there’s more reason than ever for Trump to use his personal influence to make sure Democrats will feel the pain for their betrayal of America’s national security… and the security of the rest of the freedom-loving world.