McChrystal is one big part of a much larger problem with Afghanistan. He's got to go.

As I mentioned in the open thread, the President is convening his national security team on Afghanistan today. It doesn't take a foreign policy expert to figure out that the Afghanistan strategy isn't working. It really isn't working. But, instead of focusing on the war, Obama has to focus on the personalities. Of course, hanging over everything is Obama's decision on whether or not to fire McChrystal. But, that's just one part of the problem:

Whether or not General McChrystal remains at the helm of the Afghan war effort, Mr. Obama will try to use Wednesday’s meeting to urge his fractious Afghanistan staff to pull together, said his press secretary, Robert Gibbs. The president, Mr. Gibbs said, will say that “it is time for everyone involved to put away their petty disagreements, put aside egos and get to the job at hand.”

But that may be easier said than done. At a time when violence in Afghanistan is sharply rising and several central planks of the president’s strategy to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat” the Taliban and Al Qaeda have stalled, many of the president’s top advisers have continued to criticize one another to reporters and international allies alike, usually in private conversations, and almost always off the record.

“Yes, we do hear them disparage each other,” said a senior European diplomat who works closely with the United States on Afghanistan strategy. “It’s never good to hear that.”

Bruce O. Riedel, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution who helped the administration formulate its initial Afghan policy, added, “This flap shows once again that his team is not pulling together, but is engaging in backbiting.”

Backbiting? How old are these people? They're supposed to be managing a war, not acting like they're starring in "Mean Girls." Lives are at stake for Christ sakes.

Every team needs a good leader. And, the leader needs to fire McChrystal today to start getting his team back on track.

Based on those comments of Robert Gibbs, it sounds like they're going to get a pep talk. What they need is an ass whipping.