Chuck's Choice

Boy that was strange.

The dramatic moment arrives for Chuck Hagel. He takes the podium in Omaha. CNN, Fox and MSNBC are all up live. The political world is breathlessly waiting to see whether he'll run for president. Either way--he gets in or he opts out--is big news.

And then . . . Hagel punts.

Ducks.

Dodges the issue.

He doesn't want to "divert" his energy over the next few months, so "my family will make a decision on my political future later this year."

Pfffft!

Why pump that up into a big television moment? Didn't that make the Nebraska Republican look kind of self-absorbed? Did the networks feel used? And what about those news outlets that jumped the gun ? The Washington Times said Friday that Hagel "is expected to announce Monday that he will make a bid for the Republican Party's presidential nomination." Does that warrant a correction, or can the paper just say, well, it was"expected"? (Expected by whom, I always wonder.) Andrea Mitchell also said on "Today" that Hagel was "expected to announce today."

After Hagel's non-announcement, MSNBC had on two strategists. Republican Brad Blakeman said Hagel had been "sucking in the press." Democrat Morris Reid called the speech "bizarre" and asked, "Where's the beef, Chuck?"

Maybe Hagel took a hard look at the situation and decided that a Republican running against the Iraq war had a 0.1 percent chance in the primaries. So why "keep hope alive" for a White House bid? Perhaps Hagel thinks McCain, Rudy or Romney will stumble by the fall and there will be an opening for him. Or that Iraq will be even more of a disaster by then, providing him with a greater opening?

Or is Hagel trying to keep his presidential options open because it brings him more attention as a senator?

If so, he could have accomplished the same thing through a breakfast or conference call with reporters, and not by staging a big television moment that ended with a whimper.