Senate confirms Ashton Carter as next Pentagon chief

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

The Senate on Thursday confirmed President Obama's choice to run the Pentagon, handing Ashton Carter the unenviable task of steering the military as the United States confronts Islamic State militants, conflict in Ukraine and other worldwide threats.

 

The vote in the Republican-controlled Senate was 93-5. Carter will replace Chuck Hagel, the former Republican senator who had a rough relationship with Obama's insular group of national security advisers.

 

Carter will be Obama's fourth defense secretary in six years, joining a line of succession that began with Robert Gates and included Leon Panetta and Hagel.

 

One of Carter's first tasks will be helping to win support for Obama's call to Congress for new authority to use force against the IS extremists. Republicans and Democrats have reacted negatively to Obama's draft proposal, criticizing both its limitations and vagueness.

 

In endorsing the 60-year-old Carter, Republicans expressed little hope that he would have better success in jelling with Obama's inner circle than Hagel did. The former Republican senator and Vietnam War veteran was often the outsider and he announced in November he was stepping down.

 

The president's relationship with the Pentagon has often been strained.

 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who backed Carter, said he "needs to have the courage to speak truth to power -- to Congress, yes, but also to his commander in chief."

 

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, alluded to the divide between the White House and Pentagon, saying he had "sincere hope and, sadly, little confidence that the president who nominated Dr. Carter will empower him to lead and contribute to the fullest extent of his abilities."

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We'll see how long he lasts...