Obama shows he’s not afraid to fire

updated 2:50 a.m. ET Aug. 4, 2009

WASHINGTON - In his first six months as president, Barack Obama hasn't flinched at cutting people loose.

The message — you're outta here — comes through loud and clear, though typically not face-to-face from Obama himself. No trip to a Donald Trump-like boardroom is necessary.

Those who've made a swift exit include Afghan war commander Gen. David McKiernan, White House Military Office Director Louis Caldera, and — in a maneuver stretching all the way up the Interstate to Detroit — General Motors Corp. CEO Rick Wagoner.

Obama was accused by some of not being tough enough during last year's presidential campaign and this year's health care debate, but his list of "formers" keeps growing.

The latest casualty was Gerald Walpin, the inspector general of the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Walpin was driving to a judicial conference in upstate New York last month when a White House lawyer called to tell him he was out.

Within 24 hours, his e-mail account had been shut down and his office keys deactivated.

GM's Wagoner, who survived years of jostling and intrigue in the struggling auto industry, was ushered into a Treasury Department office one Friday this spring and told to "step aside" or there would be no more federal bailout money for GM. By Monday, he was gone.

McKiernan had been on the job as commander of the war in Afghanistan for less than a year when Defense Secretary Robert Gates flew to Kabul in May to tell him he was being sacked. Days later, Gates told a Pentagon news conference that McKiernan was being replaced because the military needed "new thinking and new approaches" in Afghanistan. Asked if the general's military career was over, Gates said: "Probably."

Caldera made his exit after taking responsibility for the Air Force One flyover of the Statue of Liberty this spring that left panicked New Yorkers fearing another terror attack. He says he stepped down voluntarily. But his chewing-out by White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina was loud enough to be heard through the closed doors to Emanuel's office, according to West Wing aides who overheard the ruckus.

Trump gives thumbs up
In most of these cases, Obama's fingerprints have been light. He tossed laurels at some of those headed out the door.

"Obama fires people in a way that makes it quite unclear whether he actually did the firing," said Paul Light, a New York University expert on White House organization. "He is not Donald Trump. Someone else calls 'em in and says 'you're fired."'

Trump himself — who's showcased his skills at executing brutally direct firings on NBC's TV show "The Apprentice" — gives Obama high marks.

The president also has been lucky that most of those who've departed have gone without a fuss.

Wagoner, for example, issued this statement after word leaked out about his sacking:

"On Friday I was in Washington for a meeting with administration officials. In the course of that meeting, they requested that I 'step aside' as CEO of GM, and so I have."

Obama left it to GM to announce that Wagoner was out, and allowed that, "This is not meant as a condemnation of Mr. Wagoner, who has devoted his life to this company."

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