Personality

Rubin: Strategic thinker McMaster a welcome choice for Trump

For those looking for good news on the foreign-policy front under President Trump, his selection of Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as national security adviser should be very welcome.

It's not just that he's a Philly boy from Roxborough, who attended Valley Forge Military Academy and went on to West Point.

Here's the real key: McMaster couldn't be more different from his deposed predecessor, Michael Flynn, in personality and in his likely approach to this key position. Where Flynn was hot-tempered, narrowly focused, and prone to conspiracy theories, McMaster is a strategic thinker with a broad grasp of global issues who is comfortable with complexity, consults widely, and listens intently.