For a man who professes to have no interest in running for president, Gen. David Petraeus can come off as surprisingly eager to talk about it.
In a recent appearance at the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia, he turned a question about his retirement plans into an opportunity to deny he has political ambitions.
Ambitious, shrewd, articulate, famously competitive. Petraeus has a three-decade record of accomplishment, a penchant for publicity and a reputation for toughness that sets him apart in today's military.
Those qualities explain why Petraeus is sometimes mentioned as a prospective presidential candidate, and why the talk seems to make him uncomfortable and energized at the same time.
Many think Petraeus is the leading candidate to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Another possibility, generally seen as less likely, is that he would be nominated to be the next chief of staff of the Army.
In late 2008 after returning from Baghdad to Tampa's MacDill Air Force Base, he began his current assignment as chief of the U.S. Central Command, overseeing military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and a swath of troubled territory stretching across the greater Middle East.
It's a broader set of responsibilities than he managed in Iraq, but it has reduced the public spotlight on him because the Obama administration wanted him to assume a lower profile.
It's not clear whether President Barack Obama would choose Petraeus as Joint Chiefs chairman.
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