[gov_bean_ counter]

Because Obie is a punk? A street thug?

Just a guess...

[circlecity]

"The interesting question is, why? Why waste the political capital?"

Because he can't "waste" political capital. His supporters, especially in the media, will support anything he does. Anything. And his detractors won't. He knows that so he'll whatever he wants at any given time. There's no downside.

[Diogenesis]

Obama’s first choice was the Blind Sheik, who
refused to change parties for Obama.

[Hardraade]

Hagel is an antisemite. That’s the be all and end all for Obama.

[upchuck]

nobama to the Republicans: Here, eat this!

[Marathoner]

Well, petty tyrants make petty decisions.

[Aevery_Freeman]

Hagel is the bone tossed over the junkyard fence to occupy the dogs while Obama picks the lock to gain entry.

Watch for what he does while the stoopid Republicans are grandstanding the nomination.

[freedumb2003]

hitlery was the worst SOS — dumb as the day is long.

This guy is just equally bad.

[montanajoe]

It could have been worse..he could have nominated the lady mentioned in the piece as the first female secretary to show how inclusive his administration is...

Personally I’ll take a liberal Republican who was a grunt and decorated combat veteran over just about anyone else O would have nominated...

[SMARTY]

Hagel wast the Mullah’s pick

[SMARTY]

Hagel wast the Mullah’s pick

[liberalh8ter]

Obama is a petty, petulant child. You can bet this nomination is payback for him not getting his real choice, Susan Rice. Nothing Obama ever does is in the spirit of bipartisanship and to even hint at it makes any author lose credibility. It's Obama’s way or there's hell to pay. That's the little emperor's theme.

[mrsloungitude]

Obama being petty. What a surprise /sarc

[Jumper]

Hagel was an enlisted man, as was I. Having seen poor leadership and been the recipient of stupid orders it was enlightening to work for General JJ Lindsay on his XVIII Airborne Corps Staff as his NCOIC (He was also my first Infantry Battalion Commander in the 82nd). This was because Lindsay was too a former enlisted man who received a battlefield commission on D-Day, and one morning I had the occasion to ask him why it appeared that his entire officer staff, to include one of the other two generals in the command group were former enlisted. To this he responded that having had to do police calls at Fort Bragg as a inductee and been on the bad side of orders, he felt that only those who had been led, and led by poor leadership would have the insight to issue orders that would be well thought and seen from the eyes of someone who actually was going to do the work.

The only good I can see in Hagel is that he too has seen poor leadership and hopefully that one single facet of his heading DOD if it happens is that he knows grunt work. As for his politics, I could not disagree more as I served two years in Tel Aviv at the American Embassy and support that country for several reasons, one of which is Western Civilization; that other is that our Stock Market is very inter-connected with stocks well represented in the Jewish State.

[Rummyfan]

According to Politico, the choice "appeals to Obama's bipartisan spirit."

It's just effing laughable - the man has no more bipartisan spirit than he does humility or respect for The Constitution.

[Chewbarkah]

Obama’s intent is:
1) to further divide the Republicans against themselves;
2) to pretend to reach across the aisle, justifying blatant partisanship when the Republicans reject it;
3) to put Republicans in a position of negativity again, using up their energy on a sideshow.

At this juncture, Conservatives have no national leader, no strategy, no agenda — and it shows. Obama enjoys competent handlers running his Presidency as a political campaign, and an adulational “news” media eager to play along. Until we close the “figurehead gap”, Obama and company will eat our lunch, with dire results for the nation.

[Postnbeam]

Obama’s Cabinet choices indicate that he is the one not willing to accept that he has a mandate from his election. He understands well that those who voted for him are ignorant and he purchased their votes through false promises of wealth distribution and other ridiculous lies. There will be nothing to distribute except unfunded money printing. What really keeps him awake at night is his inferiority complex fueling his hate for the patriots of liberty and the constitution both of which negate his lethal ideology. He can’t resist any opportunity to throw into the present national crisis of leadership his pathetic nominations of obvious hacks. Political operatives who have already proven their unacceptability. They represent Molotov Cocktails of political terror thrown only to further destabilize the Republic of the United States

[jwalsh07]

Occams Razor applies here. Obama selected Hagel because they are sympatico where the “the jews” are concerned.

[redpoll]

>>>>The interesting question is, why? <<<<<

Here’s the answer from the lips of Lenin:

“Deepen [and] exacerbate existing problems, crises, [and] differences, and if they don’t exist, create them or convincingly claim that they exist... and profit [politically, ideologically and even financially] the most from them in any way you can, and, in the resulting chaos, blame our enemies for the whole thing.”

Obama was correct when he announced in 2008 that change had come to America. It’s a slow-motion version of what the Bolsheviks did in Russia. His actions are designed to enflame and antagonize, and with each response, power is concentrated with the left.

There’s no need for a Reichstag fire when dozens of smaller blazes are set across the landscape. No budget. Contradictory statements. Laws with hundreds of pages, followed by thousands of regulations. Stoking racial animosity. Fast and Furious. Gay marriage. Trillion-dollar coins. Raising taxes on the rich, which means everyone paying payroll taxes. I could list dozens more things that are promoted and proposed to confuse, anger, or deflate the feelings of the American people. And while everyone is looking elsewhere, power is consolidated.

God help us.

[Terry Mross]

How can a state that elects Tom osborn also elect Hagel and Kerry?