Career promotions are usually based upon performance.  A battlefield commission is awarded to soldiers who are promoted to a higher rank during combat.  Battlefield promotions are predicated on extraordinary performance of duties while serving in combat or under combat conditions.  During combat in WWII in Italy, Audie Murphy received his first Bronze Star Medal and his Combat Infantry Man Badge.  Later, in France, he was promoted by battlefield commission to 2^nd Lieutenant and platoon leader on October 14, 1944.

In chess, when a pawn reaches the eighth rank, it is promoted into the player's choice of a queen, knight, rook, or bishop.  Every pawn that reaches its eighth rank must be promoted.  Pawn promotion, or the threat thereof, often decides the result of a chess endgame.

"Publish or perish" is a phrase coined to describe the pressure in academia to rapidly and continuously publish academic work  in order to be promoted, furthering one's career.  For example,  Kenneth Starr achieved national acclaim for his successful special prosecution of  Bill Clinton, resulting in the president's impeachment.  Starr eventually rose to the presidency of Baylor University in his home state of Texas.  Antithetically, academic tenure ensures the right of a professor to retain his position unless the educator is removed from office for cause under extraordinary circumstances or chooses to resign.

In the National Football League playoffs, advancement is predicated simply upon winning games.  Losing results in sudden death.  There may be more similarities between national politics and the NFL than initially meets the eye.

For example, in the 1990s, Vince Foster was at the pinnacle of the Arkansas legal establishment, having received the Outstanding Lawyer Award from the Arkansas Bar Association, while being described as the "soul" of the Rose Law Firm and soon being named one of "The Best Lawyers in America."  His meteoric ascendancy to the position of Deputy Counsel in the Clinton White House ended abruptly when his body was found in Fort Marcy Park.  A note found in his briefcase after his death contained the following: "I was not meant for the job or the spotlight of public life in Washington.  Here ruining people is considered sport."

These two sentences suggest that Vince Foster may have been unwilling to loyally  support the Washington establishment that had promoted him to his pinnacle of success.  Many believe that Foster did not commit suicide, as indicated by the investigation.

A contrasting milieu seems to exist in corridors of power inside the Beltway today.  Thespians in the great theatre of the Obama administration are either promoted or humbled  according to their loyalty to the regime.

In the "Fast and Furious" gun-walking debacle, three ATF supervisors were transferred to new management positions at ATF headquarters in Washington.  They should have been fired.  Acting ATF Director Melson was reassigned to the Justice Department in Washington D.C.  He should have been fired.

According to the Los Angeles Times, these bureaucrats received promotions in the wake of one of the most disastrously botched operations in recent history, resulting in the death of hundreds of innocent Mexican citizens and Border Patrol officer Brian Terry.

During the investigation, President Barack Obama spoke about the "gun-walking" controversy.  He said that neither he nor Attorney General Holder had  authorized Fast and Furious.  He also stated, "There may be a situation here in which a serious mistake was made, and if that's the case then we'll find out and we'll hold somebody accountable."

Really?  How exactly does Barack Obama hold somebody accountable?  By promoting him to ensure his complicity and silence.  It happens time and time again; government officials who should be fired are promoted instead.

Sarah Hall Ingram was commissioner of the embattled IRS office from 2009 to 2012, roughly the period that the agency is accused of singling out Tea Party and conservative groups for extra scrutiny, based on nothing but their political bent.  As a firestorm grows around the IRS, Ms. Ingram quietly left the tax-exempt office and was made director of the IRS division Affordable Care Act division, largely responsible for implementing "ObamaCare" and handling the wealth of health information that will pour into the federal government.  She should have been fired.

Victoria Nuland, the State Department spokesperson who personally altered the FBI talking points memo to redact all references to terrorism, has been promoted to assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs.  She should have been fired.

Susan Rice, the  bureaucrat who knowingly recited the false statements blaming a video for the tragic Benghazi attack, has been promoted to the prestigious cabinet position of national security advisor.  She should have been fired.

Obama has nominated Samantha Power, who once likened U.S. foreign policies to those of the Nazis, as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.  Power has a history of controversial comments that could haunt her in confirmation.  Power was fired from the Obama campaign after calling Hillary Clinton  a "monster, capable of anything."  She should be fired again, if for no other reason than that she is married to former regulatory czar Cass Sunstein.

To promote his loyal sycophants guilty of lies, atrocious statements, and felony crimes seems to be the modus operandi of the Obama regime.  He should be fired.