Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), one of the few Republicans in Congress I can respect, expressed exactly the right sentiment yesterday about Congress ceding too much foreign policy responsibility to Bush, while lamenting Bush’s failure to capitalize on his new-found power.
In a speech this week at the Gallup Organization World Conference in Omaha (which I learned of via Aaron at naw), Hagel pulled no punches.
“When the security of this nation is threatened, Congress and the American people give the president great latitude,” Hagel said. “We probably have given this president more flexibility, more latitude, more range, unquestioned, than any president since Franklin Roosevelt — probably too much. The Congress, in my opinion, really abrogated much of its responsibility.”
In many ways, Hagel was pointing the finger at himself as much as his colleagues. Like most in Congress, Hagel voted, for example, for the congressional resolution authorizing Bush to pursue war in Iraq. With this in mind, it sounded as if Hagel has some regrets.
Moreover, Hagel noted that the respect and admiration the United States has built up over several generation appears to be all-but gone now.
“The great reservoir of pro-American good will that has existed in the world since World War II…that reservoir is now down very low,” he said.
Perhaps most importantly, Hagel, a veteran of Vietnam, believes some painful parallels exist between Iraq and Vietnam, most notably the idea that we can fight without allies.
“The one great mistake that America made in those 58 years (since World War II)…was we tried to do something alone,” Hagel said. “That was Vietnam.”