the question that wasn't asked and makes all the difference in the world...
does the white house control the pentagon, or does the pentagon control the white house?
i know there's some rules on some old piece of paper nobody takes seriously, i'm talking about the actual fact of it. because it's easy to see that if the pentagon controls the whitehouse then the elections don't matter in terms of foreign policy direction. the civil service just keeps plugging from one administration to the next.
consider this: when was the last time a president truly altered foreign policy? through the course of my life time, at least, it's been one after the other with an identical set of policies on every important issue that exists.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZW8T4NA3Is