Clinton busy yesterday calling coalition countries about McChrystal resignation

Secretary Clinton was busy on the phones yesterday afternoon, calling the foreign ministers of coalition countries to discuss with them President Barack Obama’s decision to have Gen. David Petraeus succeed Gen. Stanley McChrystal. 

As FP‘s The Cable notes, Clinton has been “conspicuously silent” about this mess. She has not issued a statement about the issue, even though two of her officials, special envoy Richard Holbrooke and Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, were insulted in the Rolling Stone article. One possible reason Clinton remains mum is she doesn’t want to step onto Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s turf by commenting on a top military official. Doing so could also drive the rumor that she’s itching to replace Gates as defense secretary.

Plus Clinton — the only person singled out for praise in the Rolling Stone article — “admires” McChrystal, as State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley put it at yesterday’s daily press briefing. It’s a tough position in which to be, liking a guy everyone’s upset with.

(In the photo above, Clinton walks into the White House yesterday.)