Sen. Chuck Hagel, the Nebraska Republican who has become a pariah in his own party because of his opposition to the war in Iraq, is frequently mentioned as a cabinet pick if Barack Obama is elected president.
On Friday, Hagel triggered fresh speculation after he publicly criticized John McCain’s selection of running-mate Sarah Palin in an appearance at Columbia University. Many also thought it significant that Hagel’s wife, Lilibet, who endorsed the Illinois senator at an Oct. 7 rally of GOP Women for Obama, was Michelle Obama’s guest at the final presidential debate.
Obama has indicated his intention to tap moderate Republicans to demonstrate his willingness to transcend partisan politics - and Hagel, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Richard Lugar are among those most often suggested by the punditocracy.
Asked specifically about Hagel last spring, Obama told The Sunday Times of London: “Chuck Hagel is a great friend of mine and I respect him very much,” but refused to elaborate.
For his part, Hagel has played it cool, refusing to endorse either candidate.
But the highly decorated Vietnam veteran described as one of Arizona Sen. John McCain’s closest friends in the Senate, accompanied Obama on a trip to Afghanistan and Iraq in July.
And Hagel talked openly about his disaffection from the foreign policies of George W. Bush, and more recently, those of McCain, to writer Connie Bruck in the Nov. 3 New Yorker.
Bruck recounts that Hagel was one of only four senators to endorse McCain’s 2000 run for president and even co-chaired that campaign.
But his differences with the Arizona senator grew after the Sept. 11 2001 terror attacks. Hagel voted for the October, 2002 war resolution (which he now says he regrets), but declared that military action should be undertaken “in the context of an American-led, multilateral approach to disarmament, not as the first case for a new American doctrine involving the preemptive use of force.”
In contrast to McCain, he also opposed the surge in troop levels in Iraq, and has called for direct, unconditional talks with Iran since 2001.
Hagel tells Bruck that the notion of “winning” in Iraq, advanced by McCain and Palin on the campaign trail, is a ‘failed way of thinking. If we frame this as win or lose, we’ll be there forever.”
The same logic is flawed in Afghanistan, he said. “I agree with Obama that we’re going to have to put several more brigades in there. But there is no military solution, so we have to be very careful that somehow we don’t just ricochet out of Iraq into Afghanistan with another hundred-and-fifty-thousand troop buildup.”
The irony is that aside from his views on foreign policy, Hagel is a traditional Republican. He is a pro-business, small-government conservative, who is pro-life and supports school prayer.
Would those positions disqualify him from being tapped for a top position in a future Democratic administration - or lead him to turn down a job offer?
Most political watchers seem to think not - betting that Obama would offer him a job if elected, and that Hagel would serve, if asked.
As the Atlantic’s Mark Ambinder bluntly puts it: “Those who know aren’t talking. So no one knows.”
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