pet rayious, though he is this rock-star general, has had a patricklely relationship with the white house. so it remains to be seen whether they will be closer to the center of the action or whether the white house will keep them a little bit more at arm's distance than panetta. it may be a different and maybe even colder relationship. >> speaking of that prickly relationship, we have had the unusual sick of the president's ambassador to china, john huntsman, coming back and potentially running against him. there had been some talk that david petraeus was a potential presidential candidate. did that factor in? did they take seriously that presidential talk? >> i don't know if they ever took it seriously. he of course has ruled it out but there was concern about what to do with petraeus, what job to give him. i think the assumption was if he could have been chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, he would have liked that job but there was concern in the white house that maybe that puts you too close to the president and that wouldn't have worked out. there is this question with this guy who