Monday, January 07, 2013

Obama Names Hagel and Brennan Jan. 7

Update: Today's interview with Hagel in his homestate newspaper. Media is gnawing at both nominations, yielding to more extreme voices, but I'm betting both will be confirmed.

Update: Eric Cantor is out with his opposition statement. Republicans aren't worried that Hagel is an anti-semite. They're worried he isn't anti-Muslim enough.

Update: Leon Panetta says he's retiring to his walnut farm, where he'll be "dealing with a different set of nuts." He said a lot of other stuff too, but that was his funny line.


Both men see the world very much as Mr Obama does, which is to say, complicated, messy and all too frequently impervious to the use of American power even when wielded with the best of intentions. Economist