3. As defense secretary, Hagel would be a dominant force in shaping U.S. foreign policy.
Five Myths
A feature from The Post’s Outlook section that dismantles myths, clarifies common misconceptions and makes you think again about what you thought you already knew.
In this administration, nobody is, except the president. Obama is the most controlling foreign policy and national security president since Richard Nixon. He dominates, not delegates, foreign policy decisions. Hagel would manage the drawdown and extrication from Afghanistan. But Obama wouldn’t delegate much high-level policy to him.
Hagel’s 2009 comments urging the United States to engage with Hamas to moderate its behavior, his 2006 refusal to sign a letter pressing the European Union to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization and his opposition to unilateral sanctions on Iran have concerned many. These views are out of sync with U.S. policy, but that wouldn’t matter much. Hagel wouldn’t have a say or influence in these matters.
Hagel’s doubts about using force against Iran would provide a contrarian view if and when Obama weighs whether to strike. But the big decisions will be the president’s call.
4. Hagel is an appeaser who’s reluctant to use force.
Hagel is a realist, not a crusader. And he’s certainly not a pacifist. He takes enormous pride in the U.S. military. He voted for the Iraq war in 2002 but later turned against it, and he opposed the 2007 troop surge. He clearly is wary of getting involved in military adventures abroad in which the United States might end up owning faraway places that it can’t control, let alone fix (see Syria). This isn’t being soft, it’s being smart. On Iran, Hagel hasn’t ruled out the use of force, but he believes in going to great lengths to avoid it.
As for reducing the defense budget, any new Pentagon chief will face a decision — not whether to cut, but by how much. Unlike Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who was reluctant to cut, Hagel is on record saying that the Pentagon should be pared down. But it’s a complex process with many oars in the water, not just the defense secretary’s. And sequestration notwithstanding, no one wants to or would be able to gut the military.
5. The flap over Hagel’s nomination is about his views.
Much of the opposition is based on Hagel’s persona and the positions he’s taken. But it goes deeper. It’s really about opposition to Obama.
Opposing Hagel is a way for Republicans to remind the president not to take them for granted. He can’t have his way without taking their views into account on the debt ceiling, gun control and even national security appointments — an area traditionally regarded as presidential purview. As we saw with Susan Rice, the president’s first choice for secretary of state, who took herself out of the running because of congressional pressure, Republican pushback has influenced Obama.
Attacking Hagel also is a chance for conservative Republicans to reassert their views on foreign policy, such as American exceptionalism, and to stand up for U.S. values and intervention abroad, which they think Obama has abandoned.
Finally, the hammering of Hagel on Israel partly reflects the pro-Israel community’s belief that, like his nominee, Obama is too soft on Iran and too tough on Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. When Hagel appears before the Senate, it’s Obama’s policies that will be up for debate just as much as his nominee.
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