<<if the generals don't respect you, then don't expect your enemies to respect you.>>
I think you've got this turned around 180 degrees. If the President does not respect the general, the general is out of a job; if the general is insubordinate to the President, again the general is out of a job. There is no shortage of these morons in monkey suits to step up to the head of the line and do whatever the President tells them to do. If not McChrystal then some other murdering thug will fill the bill quite nicely. If the junkyard dog bites the owner, it usually turns out that the owner gets a new dog, the old dog becomes landfill but not so often that the dog gets a new owner for the junkyard.