Discussion for article #230509
Lindsey Graham, John Bolton, or John McCain will be a shoo in /s
Funny, those are the same three names that came to mind as the only ones acceptable to the new Republican Senate. But you might want to throw in Joe Lieberman.
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Rumsfeld resigned just after the 2006 election.
Daddy Bush told W to get rid of that asshole. W at that time finally had realized he had been “played” by Cheney and Rummy, along with the rest of the neocons. Pity W did not have more savvy, just a total puppet.
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Not that I think Cheney and Rumsfeld didn’t do both their president and their country a disservice regarding the Iraq War (and the abandonment of Afghanistan to prosecute it), but W wanted to invade Iraq just as much as they did. They didn’t have to play him very hard.
The names at the top of the replacement list are these: Michèle A. Flournoy, Ashton B. Carter and Senator Jack Reed,D-RI.
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Spose Chuck’s been hitting the sauce?
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Until he writes his book: Unworthy Slights.
And Cheney ain’t quite dead yet.
Reading between the lines, one has to wonder if a big part of Hagel’s ouster has to do with “boots on the ground” in Iraq? Despite being a Republican, Hagel is certainly much more of a dove than a hawk. With air strikes not achieving significant success over Isis’ takeover of Iraq, it stands to reason that the president will have to authorize the use of ground forces before the end of his presidency to ensure that Iraq doesn’t become another Afghanistan. Could Hagel have been protesting such a strategy and thus became the odd man out?
Hagel was brought in to help with the the withdrawal from Afghanistan combat operations and to manage the shrinking Pentagon budget. The military is now back on a modified war footing, and that was not going to be his role. Hagel himself is also supposed to have initiated talks several weeks ago about leaving. So what you suggest is accurate.
That sounds extremely unlikely, given the backstory.
Remember, Hagel was the guy who spent the summer pounding the table about ISIL being the most serious threat ev-ah, while Obama was calling them “junior varsity” and working to tamp down the fear.
If Hagel’s resignation really was about a split over boots on the ground in Iraq, then it was almost certainly a case of Hagel being more hawkish than Obama, not the other way around.
And I think it might well be about that. The military brass keep talking about escalating and sending American combat forces, despite Obama’s statements to the contrary. I don’t recall Secretary Hagel taking to the airwaves to argue Obama’s position.
He is to me.
So here’s an idea: Rahm Emmanuel for Secretary of Defense.
He’s served as White House Chief of Staff, which means he has national security experience at the highest level.
He’s an Obama loyalist. With the brass going after Obama’s scalp, we need someone who will have his back.
He’s an ass-kicker. We really need someone to crack skulls in the Pentagon.
And it gets him out of the Chicago Mayor’s office.
Touché!
Good points. Either way, it certainly seems like the overall strategy toward ISIS and Iraq is the key determinant here and not any of this “administrative retooling” talk being put forth.
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The President should never have hired a republi-con in the first place!
So here’s a “what if” question…anybody wondering if he might try to tap Jim Webb for the job? I’m just throwing that one out there. He’s already got the national exposure, he has the military background (plus a stint as Secretary of the Navy). My other reasons for mentioning it are strictly mercenary in terms of taking a backtalking member of the party and making them part of the inner circle (keep your friends close, frenemies closer, as he did with Hilary).
I’m curious if anyone else has thought of him.
Either way, Hagel is like Holder. Neither of them are going anywhere until their replacements are confirmed, so once again the President is putting the ball firmly in the GOP’s court. Either confirm whomever he nominates without a big messy juvenile tantrum, or you get to continue to deal with Holder and Hagel.
I’m also staying away from all this ridiculous speculation coming from the Beltway meat puppets about fitness to serve, not the guy for the job, and the other gossip they’re “reporting” as news. I swear every single day, the National Enquirer looks better and better…and more bloody ethical.