The sacking of Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel fueled an immediate flurry of speculation over who the administration would pick as a successor. The real question should have been if the administration can find anyone who even wants the job.
Consensus front-runner Michele Flournoy has made it clear today that she doesn’t want the job, saying she’s rather stay at her position at a think-tank she founded. Sen. Jack Reed (D – RI), another member of the short list, says he has no interest in the job.
It’s not had to see why. President Obama is moving toward a more hawkish stance overseas, and wants a hawkish defense secretary along for the ride. While that, in and of itself wouldn’t be a big deal to find, the new war on ISIS looms large.
Plenty of hawks are in favor of the ISIS war, but with no real strategy in place and no real path to victory, the next defense secretary is going to be managing an unwinnable war, and taking the heat when it inevitably goes off the rails.
The new defense secretary is also going to have to personally sign off on any Guantanamo Bay detainee transfers, and with President Obama looking to wrap up his promise to close the facility, supposed to be completed in the first year in office, by at least the end of his eighth year, the defense secretary will be the public face of the battle.
The defense portfolio is multiple disasters waiting to happen, and whoever eventually takes the job will be signing on to take the blame. It’s unsurprising, then, that the first choices aren’t too interested in the job.
So since they won't ("can't") find anyone semi-reasonable, they'll "have to" end up giving it to some neocon or israeli? Those creatures couldn't care less about their personal reputation as long accomplish their goals.
Someone with experience.
Dick Cheney, for instance?
The powers to be like to stick a woman in charge right before things go to hell. Just like they did at General Motors. I have a bad feeling about this. I think any war is the last thing we should be talking about right now.
Hagel's departure is a testament to how poor a leader Obama is. Unable to tolerate even mildly divergent opinions, Obama has succumbed to group-think and bunker mentality.
I'll take the job! 1st order of business…BRING home all the troops from Asia-Europe and mid-east. 2nd, Place troops on all borders..SEAL THEM COMPLETELY. 3rd Deport every illegal alien-from Mexico and below TO 'include' KOREA,PAKISTAN AND ALL OTHER UNGRAATEFUL CURS WHO HAVE "OVERSTAYED" THEIR TOURIST /STUDENT VISAS WHICH =100S OF THOUSANDS..
You can't take the job and implement that policy both. After all, it would entail you going back home to whatever planet you're from. Wherever that is, it's certainly not Earth.
TL.K; are you saying anyone who has the best interest of the USA ; ie, also known as a PATRIOT; must reside on Mars? OMG; so that is where all the patriots have gone!! Not surprising they are so hard to find.
Pete,
The next time Mike shows any signs that he has the best interests of the USA in mind or at heart will be the first time.
"The patriots" framed and ratified a Constitution that prohibits the federal government from regulating immigration, not a Constitution that turns the USA into North Korea.
Thomas, I'll trust that your knowledge of the Constitution is better than mine. But this is the first time I've heard that it "prohibits the federal government from regulating immigration." By your reading, does that mean that all immigration policies short of "open borders" are unconstitutional? If so, our forefathers were certainly utopians, or was it because we had little population and a massive amount of virgin wilderness to be exploited? Either way, open borders cannot work in a decaying country of 320 million. When do you stop the flood? At 500 million? A billion? Or just wait for things to get so bad that masses of people will vote with their feet and leave – that is, if any other country with a sensible immigration policy will take them.
follyofwar,
The US Constitution leaves regulation of immigration to the states, both directly/explicitly in Article I, Section 9 and implicitly in the 10th Amendment.
Not only "can" open borders "work" in a decaying country of 320 million, they always have, do now and always will, since they will always be "open" no matter what kind of theatrical productions are put on to pretend otherwise. And they are probably the only thing that has staved off economic collapse for THIS long. If not for effectively unfettered immigration propping up the US economy and tax base, among other things grandma would have stopped receiving her Social Security checks years ago.
Makes sense. Stop invading and inviting the world. All of the 19 9/11 terrorists were illegal aliens, or "visa-overstayers" in Washington speak. We need another 1924-style moratorium on immigration for several decades. We need time to digest and absorb the people here now. I see no economic or cultural justification for over 1,000,000 people coming here every year.
AIPAC will get the defense secretary that it wants now.
To paraphrase a former incumbent, "You go to war with the Secretary of Defense you have, not the Secretary of Defense you might want or wish to have at a later time”
Rummy is available and, no doubt, would take the job if asked.
Why would any elected official, such as Senator Reed, want the job now? Congress has a pretty cushy job with great benefits. Being SecDef would be agonizing and you'd be thrown out in 2 years or less anyway. I propose retired General Wesley Clark, or former colonel and prolific anti-war military writer Andrew Bacevich. Even Justin Raimondo? (lol). But I don't see Obama going there.
A well qualified list indeed. Can we also include Philip Giraldi? I would like to be invited to the show when he first strolls into the Pentagon as Secretary of defense.
An excellent analysis of the past and prediction of how tomorrow may play out. Unless their feeding us pure theatrics, then look for Hagel to stay on as head of the military until the White House gets a white President. But then, look how long Secretary Gates stayed on, and is not Hagel a Republican?
Since the job has absolutely nothing to do with defense, the title should be changed to Secretary of Perpetual War.