1. If you want to ask you boss to change policy, you do so. Sometimes that means asking somebody how best to present it. You don't just assume that the current policy is perfection.
A leader who cannot listen to their reports sux. I've done precisely this kind of thing--gone around and tried to collect information on how to approach a topic. And the more sensitive the boss, the less willing he was to actually listen to others and the more he thought he was all-wise, the more I've "plotted." There: Such plotting can be seen as a kind of perceived weakness in your boss.
2. Breedlove was not just commander of American forces in the European theatre. He was also commander of NATO troops. That means part of his job description is most certainly not being an Obama lackey as most think he should be, and for that he does *not* report to Obama. Unless, of course, we want to think of NATO as the "North American Treaty Organization," the "treaty" being the Constitution. His #2 was British, who does *not* report to Obama, because last I heard the British military was not a wholly-owned subsidiary of the US DoD.
Touchy, touchy.