Breaking: Hagel fired? Update: Yes

[Valin]

Hot Air:

Ed Morrissey

November 24, 2014

 

Barack Obama will hold a press conference later today to announce that Chuck Hagel has resigned as Secretary of Defense. According to the New York Times, his departure is not entirely voluntary, either, although their source claims he wasn’t exactly fired:

 

 

 

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is stepping down under pressure, the first cabinet-level casualty of the collapse of President Obama’s Democratic majority in the Senate and a beleaguered national security team that has struggled to stay ahead of an onslaught of global crises.

 

The president, who is expected to announce Mr. Hagel’s resignation in a Rose Garden appearance on Monday, made the decision to ask his defense secretary — the sole Republican on his national security team — to step down last Friday after a series of meetings over the past two weeks, senior administration officials said.

 

(Snip)

 

 

(Snip)

 

Update: Yup — fired:

 

 

The officials say the White House has lost confidence in Hagel to carry out his role at the Pentagon. According to one senior official, “He wasn’t up to the job.”

 

[Cyber_Liberty]

OK, so who's turn is it to be the stupidest person in Ohaha's cabinet? There was no debate while Hagel was there.

[clearvision]

Pesky wars, conflicts, interventions?.

[NCTexan]

OK, so who's turn is it to be the stupidest person in Ohaha's cabinet? There was no debate while Hagel was there.

 

@Cyber_Liberty

 

I don't necessarily agree. With the crew that the Zero has assembled...

 

It's a distinction without difference.

 

He's had and still has some doozies.

[Valin]

The question is, when does his book come out?

[Valin]

http://youtu.be/VzwwfjtQq-I

[Cyber_Liberty]

 

OK, so who's turn is it to be the stupidest person in Ohaha's cabinet? There was no debate while Hagel was there.

 

@Cyber_Liberty

 

I don't necessarily agree. With the crew that the Zero has assembled...

 

It's a distinction without difference.

 

He's had and still has some doozies.

 

 

You are correct on every count. We need a "Dumb Pool."

[SrWoodchuck]

The question is, when does his book come out?

 

Far be it from me to kick a man when he's down. The answer to your question about a Hagel book would most probably be: When they've interviewed several thousand ghost-writers & settled on someone of middlin' intellect to accurately depict him.

 

I appreciate his service....and find it frightening that with all the bozos still on his bus....Oblunder picks the RINO to be next in line for lubing his rickety Greyhound. He must really need a true kneeler believer to complete the last phase of American Armed Services destruction.

[Valin]

@SrWoodchuck

 

 

It also might be Hagel (finally) figured out he was just there to give cover to the WH, and had no real power?

[Geee]

Michele Flournoy is front-runner to replace Hagel as Defense Secretary

 

President Obama has a short list of possible replacements for outgoing

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and sources close to the administration

say the front-runner is former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy

Michele Flournoy, who would become the first woman to head the

Pentagon if appointed.

 

Former senior Pentagon officials, including one who served under Mr.

Obama, said Mrs. Flournoy is at the top of the list, but White House

officials are also carefully weighing other, including current and

former Deputy Secretaries of Defense Robert Work and Ashton Carter,

and Democratic Rep. Adam Smith of Washington.

 

One former official said the administration may also be considering

retiring Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat and current chairman of

the Senate Armed Services Committee.

 

But the sources, who spoke anonymously with The Washington Times on

Monday, said White House officials believe the 53-year-old Mrs.

Flournoy will have the easiest time being confirmed by a Republican

controlled Senate.

 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/nov/24/michele-flournoy-front-runner-replace-chuck-hagel-/

[SrWoodchuck]

@SrWoodchuck

 

 

It also might be Hagel (finally) figured out he was just there to give cover to the WH, and had no real power?

 

@Valin

 

I thought that, too.

 

I can't help but think that he finally got hit by a "clue-bat" after Panetta & Gates shredded pResident Jarrett & the Emperor over their Little Miss Management & her Supreme Comman-don't, meddled away America's strength & foreign policy.

 

They have less to fear since the death penalty for treason was conveniently removed by the Legislature.

 

Maybe Hagel didn't remember?

[Valin]

@SrWoodchuck

 

Just thinking out loud.

[SrWoodchuck]

Michele Flournoy is front-runner to replace Hagel as Defense Secretary

 

President Obama has a short list of possible replacements for outgoing

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and sources close to the administration

say the front-runner is former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy

Michele Flournoy, who would become the first woman to head the

Pentagon if appointed.

 

Former senior Pentagon officials, including one who served under Mr.

Obama, said Mrs. Flournoy is at the top of the list, but White House

officials are also carefully weighing other, including current and

former Deputy Secretaries of Defense Robert Work and Ashton Carter,

and Democratic Rep. Adam Smith of Washington.

 

One former official said the administration may also be considering

retiring Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat and current chairman of

the Senate Armed Services Committee.

 

But the sources, who spoke anonymously with The Washington Times on

Monday, said White House officials believe the 53-year-old Mrs.

Flournoy will have the easiest time being confirmed by a Republican

controlled Senate.

 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/nov/24/michele-flournoy-front-runner-replace-chuck-hagel-/

 

Sweet @Geee!

 

Came from Beverly Hills.....graduate in Social Studies from Harvard.....served under Bill Clinton [not actually-I hope]....and a major Democrat contributor & Hillary supporter.

 

A true believer.

**********************************************************************************************

Updated to add short vid, as Flournoy disses Romney's Warning on Iraq Withdrawal.

 

Prescient, yes?

 

Flashback: When DoD Hopeful Flournoy Attacked Romney for Saying Iraq Withdrawal was Mistake

 

 

Via WeaselZippers

Edited November 25, 2014 by SrWoodchuck

[SrWoodchuck]

An Obama Official Dared Tell A Truth Obama Wanted Quiet, And Obama Just Made Him Pay

http://www.westernjournalism.com/chuck-hagel-resign-us-secretary-defense/?utm_source=MailChimp&utm_medium=email&utm_content=top-story&utm_campaign=DailyEmail11.24.14

 

 

One senior defense official told NBC News that Hagel “wasn’t up to the job,” as he was initially brought into the role to oversee the drawdown in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but circumstances shifted as the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) was mounting.

 

Hagel also wanted to strengthen the Obama administration’s policy against ISIS, who said they are an “imminent threat to every interest we have” and “this is beyond anything we’ve ever seen.” White House officials told The New York Times thatthose comments were “unhelpful.” And as the The Daily Caller points out, Hagel slammed the Obama administration’s Syria policy in a leaked memo asserting that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was “indirectly benefiting” from U.S. policy against ISIS.

 

********************************************************************************************

 

Ben Shapiro @benshapiro

Hagel's big mistake, according to NYT: he told the truth about ISIS.

7:44 AM - 24 Nov 2014

 

[Valin]

Michele Flournoy is front-runner to replace Hagel as Defense Secretary

 

 

 

[SrWoodchuck]

 

Michele Flournoy is front-runner to replace Hagel as Defense Secretary

 

 

 

 

Hey @Valin, wasn't my post above working?

[Valin]

 

 

Michele Flournoy is front-runner to replace Hagel as Defense Secretary

 

 

 

 

Hey @Valin, wasn't my post above working?

 

 

 

Oops

[Valin]

Why Obama Is Finding It Hard to Get a New Defense Secretary
John Fund
November 26, 2014

 

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s dismissal was so sudden that President Obama didn’t have a replacement ready when the two men went before the cameras on Monday. Yesterday, the search for that replacement became more complicated when Michèle Flournoy, a former Pentagon official viewed as the front-runner, took herself out of contention for the Cabinet post. Flournoy had previously served as undersecretary of Defense for policy from 2009 to 2012, and had been seen as a candidate to become the first female defense secretary.

 

Another often-touted possibility for defense secretary is Rhode Island senator Jack Reed, but he’s staying put too. Why the unwillingness to take the top Pentagon job? Too many people view it as a job not worth having in an atmosphere where the White House micromanages everything.

 

It’s well known after Secretary Hagel’s clashes with White House staff that anyone who takes the Pentagon job will be butting heads with Susan Rice, the National Security Council adviser who exercises an iron grip on key aspects of foreign policy. Not to mention Valerie Jarrett, the influential presidential counselor who seems to have both hands in every pie at the White House. “Why should anyone put up with those headaches and not even have full command of your department?” asks one leading Democratic defense analyst I spoke with. He said the White House’s need to micromanage the national-security apparatus is notorious in Washington.

 

(Snip)

 

 

[nickydog]

What a mess.

[Geee]

Rumors that Jeh Johnson, Homeland Security Secretary will be asked to be Defense Secretary. In my mind that's crazy. Someone moved from one important position to another. Someone having to start fresh in two different critical positions with only two years left and then another 2 having to take over again. Dangerous.

[SrWoodchuck]

I heard that Oblunder's first choice for SecDef declined.......since he's still the President of Russia.