In late March, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), the co-chairman of John McCain’s 2000 presidential campaign, raised a few eyebrows when he said he hadn’t endorsed McCain this year, and didn’t have any plans to do so. “When I endorse someone, or when I work for someone, or commit to someone, I want to be behind that person in every way I can,” Hagel said. “I’ve obviously got some differences with John on the Iraq war. That’s no secret. I want to understand a little more about foreign policy, where he’d want to go.”
While conceding different visions of foreign policy, though, Hagel added that his discomfort with McCain “certainly doesn’t put me in Obama or Clinton’s camp.”
That seemed like a pretty clear indication of Hagel’s state of mind. He’s a conservative Republican who agrees with McCain in general, but rejects McCain’s entire foreign policy worldview. That hardly makes him sympathetic to the campaign of a left-leaning Dem.
But as the process has continued to unfold, Hagel seems to be moving further and further away from the Republican whose campaign he co-chaired eight years ago. Sam Stein noted that Hagel is “quickly becoming Barack Obama’s answer to Joe Lieberman.”
The Republican Senator from Nebraska was a political thorn in McCain’s side on Tuesday night, repeatedly lavishing praise on the presumptive Democratic candidate and levying major foreign policy criticisms at the GOP nominee and the Republican Party as a whole. At one point, Hagel even urged the Arizona Republican to elevate his campaign discourse to a higher, more honest level. […]
“We know from past campaigns that presidential candidates will say many things,” Hagel said of some of McCain’s recent rhetoric, namely his policy on talking to Iran. “But once they have the responsibility to govern the country and lead the world, that difference between what they said and what responsibilities they have to fulfill are vastly different. I’m very upset with John with some of the things he’s been saying. And I can’t get into the psychoanalysis of it. But I believe that John is smarter than some of the things he is saying. He is, he understands it more. John is a man who reads a lot, he’s been around the world. I want him to get above that and maybe when he gets into the general election, and becomes the general election candidate he will have a higher-level discourse on these things.”
Much of Hagel’s remarks reportedly weaved between “Obama praise and McCain quips.”
Hagel even took issue with the recent “appeasement” talk.
Hagel, speaking to a small gathering at the residence of the Italian ambassador, took umbrage with several positions taken by the McCain campaign, including the Arizona Senator’s criticism of Obama for pledging to engage with Iran. Engagement is not, and should not be confused for, capitulation, he argued.
“I never understand how anyone in any realm of civilized discourse could sort through the big issues and challenges and threats and figure out how to deal with those without engaging in some way….”
Hagel then offered a wry tweak of his GOP colleague. “I am confident that if Obama is elected president that is the approach we will take. And my friend John McCain said some other things about that. We’ll see, but in my opinion it has to be done. It is essential.”
Hagel, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, went on to belittle the tendency for some within his own party to disparage those who tout diplomacy. “You take some risks in talking about this,” he said, “especially in the Congress, because you can immediately be branded as an appeaser.” […]
Finally, he charged that if the preeminent foreign policy objective is to achieve security in Israel and stability within the broader Middle East, then the Bush track — which McCain has endorsed — is ill-advised.
“If you engage a world power or a rival, it doesn’t mean you agree with them or subscribe with what they believe or you support them in any way,” he said. “What it does tell you is that you’ve got a problem you need to resolve. And you’ve got to understand the other side and the other side has got to understand you.”
Remember, back in March, Hagel said he wanted to wait to endorse until he could be “behind that person in every way I can.” Given the circumstances, which candidate — McCain or Obama — do you think he’d be more likely to endorse?
I trust that the Obama campaign knows full well what it’s doing, but I’d just add that now would likely be a very good time for some serious outreach to Hagel.
