Between the lines of Obama’s remarks today you could hear a rebuke of Vice President Biden, who has been fighting a rearguard action against what the president made clear was the Obama-McChrystal strategy:
I’ve just told my national security team that now is the time for all of us to come together. Doing so is not an option but an obligation. I welcome debate among my team but I won’t tolerate division.
All of us have personal interests. All of us have opinions. Our politics often fuels conflict. But we have to renew our sense of common purpose and meet our responsibilities, to one another and to our troops who are in harm’s way and to our country.
Also, this is very speculative, but one would guess that Petraeus was in a position to drive a tough bargain with the president, and therefore ask that he get a fresh diplomatic team in Afghanistan sooner rather than later.