BOOK - 'Worthy Fights'

President Obama was not elected as a 'war President,' he is not Dwight D. Eisenhower and defiantly not 'Mission Accomplished' (NOT) Bush.  So I don't expect him to be good at war.

"Panetta:  Time of unprecedented threat calls for debate on leadership" PBS NewsHour 10/9/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Leon Panetta was involved in the war on terror, the assassination of Osama bin Laden and the wind-down of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Now the former CIA director and defense secretary is out with a memoir that has made headlines for its criticism of President Obama’s leadership.  Panetta joins Judy Woodruff to discuss his book, “Worthy Fights,” the Islamic State and Washington dysfunction.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  We turn now to a memoir from an Obama administration insider that’s gaining headlines for its critical assessments of the president.

The author, Leon Panetta, spent decades in Washington, first as a legislative assistant, later a congressman, and then President Clinton’s chief of staff, before retiring to his home state of California.  He was coaxed back into government by President Obama, who persuaded Panetta to serve as director of the CIA and then secretary of defense.

In those roles, he was involved in the war on terror, the assassination of Osama bin Laden, and the wind-down of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

He writes about all of this in “Worthy Fights:  A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace.”

I spoke with him earlier this afternoon.