Why Obama chucked Hagel

By Carmine DiFazio, North Las Vegas

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014 | 2 a.m.

There is no doubt about why President Barack Obama tapped Chuck Hagel for his second-term secretary of defense. They were friends in the Senate, holding similar policy views despite their different party affiliations. Hagel, as a senator from Nebraska, supported defense cuts, opposed pre-emptive action against Iran (and wouldn’t support Israel if it did), and supported talks with Hamas and Hezbollah. Senate Republican opponents also complained about Hagel’s 2011 call to have the Pentagon “pared down,” saying “the Defense epartment, I think in many ways, has been bloated.” These views and their personal friendship naturally led Obama to consider Hagel as a possible vice presidential choice on the 2008 ticket and a likely Cabinet department head after the election.

So why did Obama chuck Hagel out of the Cabinet? Simple: for all the same reasons he was chosen. Hagel is not a political party player. He, like the president he served, waffles and flip-flops on the important issues — or evolves, if you prefer the Democrat nuance. While the president doesn’t mind this trait in himself, and admires it in others, he despises it from his top team players. The choice of Hagel was bound to end the way it did — with a “forced” resignation. What’s surprising is it took this long.