Score One for Sullivan/Greenwald

John Brennan has withdrawn his name from consideration for a high-ranking intelligence job in the Obama administration, citing "strong criticism in some quarters" of his role in the Bush administration. Though I've written in quasi-defense of selecting someone like Brennan to be DNI, I am relieved and encouraged by the way this has played out.

In reading Brennan's letter, you'd think that the prospect of his appointment had ignited some sort of media firestorm. The reality, though, is that the most prominent opponents of his appointment were bloggers, in particular Glenn Greenwald, Andrew Sullivan, and Scott Horton. The mainstream media has barely touched the subject.

The fact that people like Greenwald, Sullivan, and Horton were able to generate, by themselves, sufficient heat to derail this appointment speaks to the increasing influence of the left-leaning new media. I think it also suggests that there are people close to Obama who share many of our views, particularly on issues like torture, surveillance, rendition, etc.

One note of caution, though. As I wrote earlier this week, I suspect that Brennan was under consideration for a high-ranking position in the intelligence community despite his expressed views, not because of them (and just what those views are, I think, is still subject to some debate). The universe of people who have sufficient knowledge and experience to competently run our vast and sprawling intelligence apparatus is not very large and most of the qualified candidates are likely to be tainted in some way by their connections to the Bush administration. So while Brennan may now be out of the running, there's a reasonable likelihood that whoever is ultimately chosen will have a similar track record of questionable statements and associations. I hope not, but I won't be surprised if that's the case.