How badly does Chuck Hagel want to be secretary of defense? As Politico reports, the answer comes in a letter he wrote to Senator Barbara Boxer that won the California Democrat’s support for his confirmation. In it, he didn’t merely apologize for his bragging about standing up to the “Jewish lobby,” but also backtracked from previous stands on the U.S.-Israel alliance, the threat from Iran and even specified that he now considers Hamas and Hezbollah to be terrorist groups.
As expected, Hagel flipped on his anti-gay stance as well as his opposition to abortion rights for members of the armed services—issues that are important to the liberal Boxer. But by explicitly reversing his positions on Middle East issues that he had held throughout his years in the Senate and after he left Congress, Hagel has made it clear that he is willing to say anything necessary to win the approval of pro-Israel Democrats without whom he cannot win confirmation. The man who once popped off about how he was not like all the members of the Senate when it came to embracing the pro-Israel and anti-Iran consensus now can’t be loud enough in his professions of support for that line.
This tells us two things.
One is that the administration knows that the real Chuck Hagel who was well known to be hostile to the pro-Israel community and was an advocate of engagement with Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah can’t be confirmed as secretary of defense. If they are to sell the Senate on their former colleague, it will require a complete rebranding in which the Nebraskan throws his “realist” foreign policy views, which endeared him to Israel-bashers and caused even the Iranians to embrace his nomination, out the window.
That means the campaign launched against his confirmation by those who rightly viewed him as a figure outside the mainstream when it came to many foreign policy issues is succeeding. Hagel’s cheering section in the media and the Washington establishment has sought to put down his opponents as mad dog neoconservatives and extremists. But the former senator’s willingness to abandon his views shows that his White House handlers understand that it was Hagel that was out of touch, not his critics.
Secondly, the process by which Hagel has been forced to do a 180 on stands that were integral to his worldview also illustrates that President Obama is not as free to pursue policies in his second term that contradict the rhetoric he used during his re-election campaign as some of his left-wing supporters hoped and his right-wing foes feared.
The president painted himself into a corner last year when he specifically disavowed the possibility that the U.S. might choose to “contain” a nuclear Iran rather than forestalling the Islamist regime’s production of such weapons. He also vowed that any deal with Iran would preclude their having a nuclear program. And though he spent much of his first term seeking to undermine Israel’s negotiating position with the Palestinians and trying to force it to make concessions, the president stopped talking about those issues last year and merely stuck, as Hagel did in his letter to Boxer, to enunciating support for the U.S.-Israel alliance.
This doesn’t mean that the second Obama administration can’t reverse itself on any of these points. It could back down on Iran and it is not unlikely that it will embrace a revived peace process aimed at pushing Israel into a corner. But the Hagel confirmation process shows that making such decisions will come at a high political price. There’s good reason to believe that Hagel was chosen precisely because the president privately shares some of those views that the nominee is now disavowing. But this is also a president who understands that his political capital is finite and can’t be squandered on anti-Israel grudges when there are much larger and more important battles to be fought in the next four years. The campaign against Hagel may not succeed in stopping his confirmation. But by forcing him to start talking like a neoconservative on Israel, it has demonstrated that there is a limit to how far even a re-elected Obama can go when it comes to straying from the foreign policy mainstream.
UPDATE:
Reports now say that New York Senator Chuck Schumer is satisfied with Hagel’s backtracking on Israel and Iran and is now prepared to endorse his nomination. This makes it a certainty that Hagel will be confirmed. But as I wrote earlier, the fact that he was forced to do a 180 on the positions that had endeared him to the foes of the Jewish state will make it difficult for Hagel to revert to his previous antagonism toward the pro-Israel community.
so the entirety of "foreign policy mainstream" consist entirely of total war on iran and give israel anything it wants?
It would seem that way.
Yes, to the blame-Israel-firsters, I suppose it would.
"Can you imagine the outrage if Netanyahu had declared prior to US elections in November that current US policy involving Iran and the rest of the Middle East is not in its own best interests?" n nThat's exactly what he did say. n n"The Washington Post went on record as saying that Hagel's positions place him "well to the left of those pursued by Mr. Obama during his first term…." n nWhat positions? Abortion? No. Gay rights? No. And as far as foreign policy goes, he's only to the left of GOP libertarians like Ron Paul.
I believe Netanyahu was the one who tried to suggest for whom Americans should vote in the last election. That was the more benign aspect of his involvement, of course, as the rest of it consisted of sending out his toadies to try and buy the election.
"I believe Netanyahu was the one who tried to suggest for whom Americans should vote in the last election. " n nIf you believe that, you will believe anything that you are told by Obama and his fellow cheerleaders for Israeli suicide.
PREDICTION: Chuck Schumer and other Jewish Democrats will swallow Hagel's "clarifications" hook, line and sinker. In the final analysis, their political ambitions (Schumer aspires to be the next Senate Majority Leader) and their loyalty to Obama will trump any concerns about Israel and the threat Iran poses to her. In that choice, they will simply mirror the attitudes of the vast majority of American Jews, I'm ashamed to say. Liberalism has turned most of us into sheep; unwilling or unable to stand up to those clearly hostile to us.
wait until Hagel is asked about women in combat (maybe Gillibrand will ask that). nand Sen. Blumenthal's questions about F35JSF and submarines. n nmeanwhile, why is Commentary so silent on Jack Lew for SecTreas?
remind us what you don't like about the nomination – conflict of interest?
Just like the German Jews before them. How well did that work out? n
The German killed every Jew they could get their hands on from Germany (a minority) through Eastern Europe into Russia. It didn't work out for anyone, no matter what their politics. German Jews were only a small portion of the sacrifices. German "liberals' were in a wonderful political tradition that failed because of Nazi barbarism not the evil of classical liberalism or Goethe. As it happened the most militant opponents of Nazis were left-wing Marxist Zionists or right-wing classical "liberal" followers of Jabotinsky.
The opposition to Hitler was left-wing socialist Marxist. For example the youth groups that formed the Z.O.B. to fight the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The Tea Party would consider them all commies. Israel was founded not by followers of Glenn Beck but of Marx and his competitors. And those who actively resisted Hitler overlapped. The German Jewish liberals you are slamming were closest to Tea Party ideals.
The good fight was fought. Obama will remain Obama. But for now Israeli officials are not expressing concern over the present level of cooperation with him. Bibi is coming to DC. He will talk to Obama.Concessions were won. Sometimes you need to stand like an oak. Sometimes bend like a willow. Jews cannot be the cosmic one-stop doormat but life cannot be lived continuously over the red line in four alarm alert. Graciously declare victory and sit it out.
Hagel's imminent confirmation looks to be a defeat so catastrophic for the Israel Lobby, it has nothing left to do but try to spin it as a victory, as Tobin does. n nOf course, Hagel can do what he wants as Defense Secretary, just as a re-elected Obama had "more flexibility" in his second term. There will not be war with Iran in Obama's second term. If Iran gets nukes, Israel will have to deal with the problem on its own — as it well should. The chicken hawks, Tobin and his fellow travelers, have gone down into ignominy. n nWhat is most encouraging is how the conversation has changed. I used to go to right-wing websites and find myself the only commenter espousing the patriotic, American, Washingtonian point of view. Now, as I visit the same websites, just a few months later, the comments sections are flooded with outrage against the Israel Lobby. n nThe attacks on Chuck Hagel — the Mugging of a Patriot — have been a game changer.
Yes it's a bit startling the extent to which online commenters on some mainstream sites such as NYT or CNN are seriously upset by the lobby and eager to make their views known. n nAs time passes, as the absurdities of the Israel-US relationship become even more apparent, we'll see that trend continue.
It is safe to say that Hagel will not forget the smears cast at him during the confirmation process by the Israel Lobby, and as a result will be even more harshly opposed to the Lobby as defense secretary than he would have been otherwise.
what SMEARS-what confirmation process?? n ndid I miss this confirmation process?? n nIsrael is the only issue which encumbers Hagel? n nWell at least Hagel has the support of Iran and you! and John f*kn Kerry, and John (alQods) Brennan…………and of course Hussain Obama…..good for you n nHagel's words have come back to haunt him n nor as the Rev Wright would say…………' the chickens have come home to roooooosssssssst" n nHagel doesn;t matter to Israel………..the individual in the white house matters n nto every single American who is outraged with his administration
You actually make Rev. Wright look like a patriot, and that is really sad. n nBy the way, remind me again why you can't seem to convince half of even the Jewish people, let alone the rest, of the rectitude of your views? n nIs it the self-hating thing? Refresh my memory.
name 2 policies where barak obama has significantly altered policies from the bush administration
1. As an incentive for Israel to expel all Jews from Gaza, Bush gave Israel a letter of assurance that major Jewish towns and suburbs surrounding Jerusalem would be part of Israel under any peace agreement, even though outside the Green Line. The current administration said that the US will not honor that letter. n n2. Unlike Obama, Bush never insisted that a final peace agreement would require Israel to retreat to the indefensible 1949 armistice lines, with only minor adjustments. The drafters of UNSC Res. 242 realized that those lines invited attack by the Arabs, and for that reason 242 calls for defensible and recognized borders instead. The 1949 lines are neither. n nThose are fact. The following is recollection and may be faulty: n n3. Bush never insisted that Israel accede to Palestinian demands as a precondition to negotiations. n n4. Bush and his appointees did not blame Israel for the Palestinian's refusal to negotiate.
What I also find amusing is that no one to date has been so foolish as to suggest that Hagel's retraction of his views — a reversal entirely predictable and predicted — would have the slightest bearing on his actions as a cabinet member. n nOnly now is that suggestion being made — now that Israel Firsters are desperate for any face-saving scrap of logic that might let them claim some semblance, however meager, of a victory.
Ah, yes, Bill the "patriot" would have us turn our attention to those horrible "Jew Firsters." Kind of reminds me of how similar claims were made some 70 years ago by "American Firsters" that the Jews were dragging the US into a war against Hitler. This prompted Woody Guthrie to write a song called "Lindbergh," which concludes with the line, "they say America First, but they mean America Next."
"As I went walking I saw a sign there nAnd on the sign it said "No Trespassing." nBut on the other side it didn't say nothing, nThat side was made for you and me." n nI'm guessing a huge fan of Mel Gibson….
Mr. Jew-Baiting Sunshine Patriot: the "Israeli Firsters" are in this very magazine, a couple columns down, continuing to call Hagel's volte face disingenuous and sound the clarion call for opposition. n nBut it doesn't matter does it. n nFirst the trial, then the execution. n nFor the anti-Semite as far as the Jews go, tails you win, heads they lose. n nIf the "Israel-Firsters" continue opposition (Commentary editors still do) they are anti-American agents of Israel. n nIf they stop their opposition they are pathetic losers desperate for a face-saving scrap of logic. n nIsrael will be here long after Hagel and anyone who remembers him have faded into the scrap heap of history. n nHe is irrelevant. n nThat is sufficient reason to take whatever "retraction" he offers as a victory and sit it out because the fundamentals here matter and he doesn't. n nObama will do what he will do regardless as to whether Hagel or some other hack is SecDoD. As a self-avowed "patriot" you might consider the implications for America of a President who so freely speaks out of both sides of his polemical mouth, head faking right in order to swivel left and routinely making a hash of logic and prior promises fo further his agenda. For example, the Defense Department sequestration that he engineered, then disavowed, and now, with Hagel, seems ready to implement. n nNot that the Pentagon can't use some trim but President Obama might not be the most conscientious administrator of it. n nBut Hagel, who cares?
Jew-baiting? Well then, you're a racist for opposing Barack Obama. n nFolks, despite all the name calling, there is a bit of good news here. Even at this late stage in the game, there are still ways to secure the Israeli/Jewish interest through HONEST means. Although admittedly, it will be much harder now than if you had taken my advice 10 years ago. Everything that's happening now is what I predicted years ago.
"Obama is not as free to pursue policies in his second term that contradict the rhetoric he used during his re-election campaign" — actually, he is; he just has to appease the people until the nomination is approved.