Poor Chuck Hagel, the guy always looks like the definition of a “sad sack”, and now he has more reasons to be sad.
Hired by Obama to be the “Token Republican”, the most un-warlike Hagel was intended to preside over a general troop drawdown and shrinking budgets. Things went well until the ISIS crisis became so dire that he actually started listening to senior officers more than to Obama – that would never do!
Finally, after a couple of weeks of meetings about his “future”, Hagel resigned today, reportedly under pressure from “O”. HotAir.com has the story, and a very relevant quote from Joel Pollak at Breitbart.com:
Hagel should never have been chosen for the post. He had no firm grasp of national security strategy, was weak on Iran, had a disturbing anti-Israel track record, and fumbled his confirmation hearing badly. Other nominees, including Michèle Flournoy–who would have been the first woman to hold the post–would have been better, but Obama could not pass up the chance to use a Republican as a bipartisan fig leaf to slash the Pentagon.
That said, there is no immediate or urgent failure that ought to have triggered Hagel’s departure. Until he began to “go rogue” on ISIS, he had faithfully carried out Obama’s policies. What seems likely is that the threat of ISIS became too urgent to ignore, as senior military leaders began pushing for ground troops. The real problem is in the White House, not at the Pentagon. Given that, only a greater fool than Hagel would rush to replace him.
(Emphasis added)
