Hagel

Whale, despite two of the most biggest brains in the biz - looks awfully awful clear that 44 will pick Surge Hater Sen Hagel as Great Satan's next Def Sec.

Most likely a Def Sec Hagel will not mind if Defense gets all hollowed out - unlike Uncle Leon - who laid it out to play it out “It would guarantee that we hollow out our force and inflict severe damage on our national defense."

Yet despite a lack lustre resume' (truly - is there a Hagel Bill or Hagel Doctrine we can admire or LOL?) - Sen Hagel wouldn't be that great

What's striking about the case for Hagel is its absence. His backers can cite no significant legislation for which Hagel was responsible in his two terms in the Senate. They can quote no memorable speeches that Hagel delivered and can cite no profound passages from the book he authored. They can summarize no perceptive Hagelian analysis of defense or foreign policy, and can appeal to no acts of management or leadership by the man they'd have as our next secretary of defense.

The fact is that those legislative achievements, intellectual insights, or management triumphs don't exist.

No one would care if the president wanted to send Hagel off to openly and aggressively make the case for Obama's foreign policy as ambassador to Luxembourg. But the secretary of defense has real responsibilities. Even his nomination has real consequences. In fact, nominating a person who is clearly soft on Iran would send exactly the wrong message to Tehran.

In the three weeks since Chuck Hagel’s name emerged as 44’s likely choice as the next secretary of defense, there's been a lively, if lopsided, debate about his qualifications for the job. The debate’s been lopsided because the arguments for Hagel have been so startlingly weak. It’s not just that those arguing for Hagel form an unusually motley crew, even by the standards of the anti-Little Satan swamp in which many of them frolic. 

They can quote no memorable speeches that Hagel delivered and can cite no profound passages from the book he authored. They can summarize no perceptive Hagelian analysis of defense or foreign policy, and can appeal to no acts of management or leadership by the man they'd have as our next secretary of defense.

Dislike of hawks, neocons, or friends of Little Satan isn't really a good reason to select Chuck Hagel. And there's something comical about many of the defenses of Hagel. His defenders rise up in high dudgeon to condemn Hagel's critics as smear merchants for criticizing Hagel as anti-Little Satan and soft on Iran—and then, if they're among the honest Hagel defenders, they praise Hagel for being anti-Little Satan and soft on Iran. 

Pic - "If Persia"s Preacher Command is hot for Hagel, then..."