Watching the Sunday shows it seems that conservatives are a bit confused as to why Obama looks intent on nominating Hagel as SecDef - Hagel has said some controversial things that annoy and worry both sides of congress, on Israel, on Iran, on the size of the American military - these things rightly trouble conservatives and a few moderate liberals - and he's also said some things about gays which gets the hyper liberals biting their lips with trembling angst - and added to all those negatives Hagel doesn't really have in the end many credentials that suggest he's a good fit for the big chair at the Pentagon - there are lots of people Obama could choose from with better resumes that would be acceptable to republicans.
So people are confused as to why Obama seems intent on nominating the guy. Let me explain - Dear Leader is all about personalized political victories - whether this is because he's a petty egomaniac or a not so petty messianic megalomaniac who equates a win for him as being therefore necessarily a win for the country too, or whether it's because he's a committed manichean revolutionary who sees only good and evil - progressives are good, conservatives are evil - and therefore thinks only losers believe in compromise and bi-partisanship - whatever, I can only guess as to the hidden or not so hidden motivations behind his behavior - but his behavior is clear regardless. Now I'm sure Obama shares Hagel's view on many things like Israel etc etc and would therefore be fine with the guy as SecDef - but it's my humble opinion that what he really likes about Hagel is that he's a republican that republicans don't like and so when republicans in congress oppose his nomination, maybe defiantly oppose [Obama's preferred outcome] he can then go before his media friends and assert 'You see, it's as I told you, I'm reaching out to these people but they're saying no, they're intolerant, they're stubborn and divisive - they're the problem, not me' [and then of course some bobble head in the black congressional caucus will moronically chime in with a racism charge] - and presto, there ya go, a political victory for Obama - does nothing good for the country, quite the opposite I think - but as long as the media more or less plays along [what are the odds] it will still be a political victory that possibly comes in handy when he stonewalls and then demagogues the GOP on the debt ceiling and budget cuts - and that's all that really matters to him.
The interesting question to be decided here is how lasting will these 'victories' prove to be - because, let's face it, they do seem petty, trivial, they can be seen as reflecting a delusional, myopic, self serving approach to the erstwhile most important job in the world - it's not hard to see them as quite fragile testaments to a hollow, misguided presidency - it's not hard to see them feeding a hubris that leads to disaster.
