An Independent Prairie Thinker

But he thinks -- and he has lots of company among independent pollsters and operatives -- that the public mood is shifting and there is a growing demand for what he calls "responsible governance."

That's not easily defined, but one characteristic, Hagel says, is clearly the search for a consensus that commands more than a partisan majority of 51 percent.

It also means stepping up to the largest challenges, rather than postponing or finessing them. Thus, in the area of entitlements, Hagel wants to drum home the message that the three big ones -- Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- represent a $42 trillion unfunded commitment over the next 75 years, something that threatens the well-being of more than two generations.

Rather than offering patchwork remedies, Hagel and Rep. John Tanner, a Tennessee Democrat, are sponsoring legislation to create a small, bipartisan commission to look at the challenge in its entirety. The makeup of such a group will be a topic when Hagel meets this week for one of his periodic sessions with retiring Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.

On immigration, where Hagel teamed in the last Congress with former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, he has a package of proposals addressing border security, employment rights and the integration of undocumented workers and their families into local communities. His bills will probably be on the Senate agenda next year.

Hagel's concepts can sometimes be murky, as when he describes his hopes for a U.N.-sanctioned peace and security conference on Iraq. But as the post-Bush period of Republican history begins to come into focus, there will be more room for independent thinking of the kind Hagel loves to offer.

davidbroder@washpost.com