Why couldn’t he run for senate again later? He went back after losing a presidential bid, for pete’s sake, which used to be good enough reason to crawl into a hole forever.
By the wag, if state is so worthless what makes defense so damn important?
He could run again. There’s nothing that could stop him, except there may be no open seat. I don’t see Kerry challenging a sitting democrat to try to get back into the senate. Look at what happened to Bob Kerrey, the people rejected him. Dan Coats got back in after leaving and Goldwater and Humphrey did too but it’s rare.
The department of State is more or less sipping tea and talking with foreign leaders. It’s never been a powerful or influential post since the President is the real secretary of state.
Defense on the other hand in my opinion is a far more important position. Obama wants to gut the military, like any leftist does. They hate the military. And a republican doing it would add so much credibility. Hagel is in reality, a democrat and from his testimony is not even qualified for the position. He doesn’t even appear to be an able administrator. That puts the defense of the country in danger.