This Time, Hagels Aren't Boarding the Straight Talk Express

From The Washington Post:

Once upon a time, Lilibet Hagel [,the wife of Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.),] was a big supporter of John McCain.

These days, however, Lilibet Hagel is a proud donor to McCain's likely general-election opponent, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

Chuck Hagel's drift from McCain. He was once considered McCain's closest friend in the Senate -- Vietnam veterans with adjacent offices.

Now Hagel is a lonely voice against the Iraq war in the GOP conference.

Recently, Chuck Hagel, who is retiring at the end of this year, has defended Obama's approach to diplomatic engagement with rogue nations such as Iran, a strategy McCain and President Bush have likened to "appeasement." Some even have speculated about an Obama-Hagel ticket.
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Having Hagel on the ticket would be fine with me. More likely, I see him in an Obama cabinet.

In a 5-13-08 post, I noted that the late Hamilton Jordan recently advocated that Obama

name retiring Republican U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel, from Nebraska, war hero, successful businessman and thoughtful critic of the Iraq War, to be his Secretary of Defense to rebuild our nation's military power.

And in a 5-27-08 post I quoted David Brooks who wrote that Obama would

need someone who can be a senior, authoritative presence in a cabinet [such as] Republican Senator Chuck Hagel . . . .