The Proxy War Against Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon Is Really About Obama

by Howard Kurtz Jan 8, 2013 4:45 AM EST

Obama’s nomination of the former GOP senator for secretary of defense has drawn flak from Republicans and activist groups. But Hagel’s not really their target, says Howard Kurtz.

The battle over the next secretary of defense isn’t ultimately about Chuck Hagel. It’s about President Obama and his second-term agenda for the military.

Washington loves a good fight. Nomination battles are a kind of bloodsport here. And Hagel presents a prime target of opportunity.

Disliked by most Republicans, disowned by many Democrats, he has no natural base of support for the Pentagon job. He has, instead, a constituency of one, and that is POTUS.

Does anyone seriously think the former Nebraska senator will be dictating policy on, say, Israel or Iran, any more than Leon Panetta did? In nominating Hagel on Monday, despite plenty of attacks during the trial-balloon phase, Obama was sending the message that he wants his own man to stir things up at Defense, even if that man is a Republican. Otherwise he’d name a technocrat and avoid the messy Senate battle. The president put his own prerogatives front and center.

This is, in short, a proxy war.

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