I tend to agree with David Corn on his worrisome evaluation of the retention of Robert Gates at DoD. While I can see the political up-side, I don't think it's enough to balance out the potential for a rough downside -- in short, will a lame duck Gates be capable of controlling a potentially hostile and undermining military bureaocracy?
As with most of the president-elect's choices, however, history has proved that it's better to give him the benefit of the doubt until there's proof otherwise.
h/t Digby (My deliberately silly headline is a nod to Digby's deliberately silly headline, by the way.)