Obama has free rein to act on McChrystal, but system is still complex

By Anne E. Kornblut and Karen Tumulty
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 23, 2010

The Constitution spells it out clearly: Civilians are in control of the military, with one in particular deemed the "Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States when called into the actual Service of the United States."

In reality, the relationship has never been that straightforward. And the complexity was even greater for Barack Obama, who had never served in the military and had been elected in no small measure on the fact that he had promised to extract the country from his predecessor's war.

Now, 17 months after assuming the role of commander in chief, Obama finds himself facing a particular test of that balance between control and deference with the publication of a magazine profile in which his top commander in Afghanistan, and those who surround him, showed disrespect for the president and his top civilian advisers.

In deciding the fate of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, Obama must assert authority over the military without alienating it or fueling skepticism about his own fitness as its commander.

(More here.)