12:50 am
A Reverse Lieberman with a Half Twist
THIS JUST IN: Steve Clemons is reporting that Hagel will endorse Obama. This is the same post as before, which if Steve is right, is even more important now.
According to The Wall Street Journal, among others, Chuck Hagel is planning to travel to Iraq with Barack Obama. Hagel, of course, has featured prominently in the Obama VP sweepstakes, although his name has dropped off the radar a bit over the past month.
I like Hagel, and I think he’s been an important voice on the Iraq war. I don’t go as far as Steve Clemons does in arguing he should have run for President, or that Obama would be wise to choose him as VP. Frankly, were Obama to put together a unity ticket, he would be better off with Richard Lugar, one of his mentors on foreign policy in the Senate. Lugar brings greater gravitas and is from a swing state to boot. But I think the chances of Lugar on the ticket are about as great as The Condi winning the Masters next spring.
I also believe, in the spirit of Spencer Ackerman and Matt Yglesias’s argument against keeping Robert Gates on as SecDef, the Democrats need to prove that there are worthy people within their own party for these posts. It’s often overlooked, but John Kerry’s slide four years ago began not with the Swift Boat ads or his terrible acceptance speech (although both certainly hurt), but rather with his efforts to get John McCain to become his VP nominee. When McCain said no, it weakened not only Kerry but also John Edwards, the eventual nominee, who was regarded by many as little more than a consolation prize.
All that said, I do find it interesting that none of the mainstream media’s reports (or at least none of the ones I’ve read) have mentioned the fact that Hagel is in many ways the mirror of Joe Lieberman, who betrayed defected from the Democratic party to support John McCain:
- Lieberman was on the Democratic ticket in 2000; Hagel was widely presumed to be McCain’s choice to be VP had McCain beat Bush in 2000.
- Lieberman is socially liberal; Hagel is socially conservative.
- Lieberman is in favor of staying the course in Iraq; Hagel wants us to get out as quickly as humanly possible.
- Lieberman has grown increasingly shrill in his criticisms of his former party; Hagel has remained thoughtful and balanced in his criticism of President Bush.
Unlike Lieberman, Hagel has not yet endorsed the opposition party’s nominee. The rumor mill says he just might yet, and it certainly would be a big boost to Obama were he to pull a reverse Lieberman.
But even if he doesn’t, a joint trip to Iraq — and, I would assume, a statement supporting Obama’s position on Iraq — would certainly be as embarrassing to McCain as Lieberman’s shenanigans have been to the Democrats. Even better, it could diminish the marquee value of Lieberman’s defection, and might even force the boys on the bus men and women on the Not-So-Straight Talk Express to ask McCain some hard questions on the war.
Loading ...
