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To Chuck Hagel: Thanks But Go Further
Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel has previously demonstrated some degree of political independence from the GOP talking points line and here he has done it again:
August 18, 2005For the rest, go here.
Alan Elsner
Reuters - Copyright 2005
In the solidly Republican state of Nebraska, voters are expressing deep anxiety about rising gasoline prices and the war in Iraq, a possible early warning sign for President George W. Bush in one of his most reliable strongholds.
When Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel traveled around his home state this week, citizens at every stop brought up Iraq policy and the inexorable rise in fuel prices.
"Is there anything the United States can do to get some stability in crude oil prices in the world, because it affects everything we do?" Larry Ahlers, a manager at medical device manufacturer Becton and Dickinson in Broken Bow, asked Hagel in one of dozens of such encounters.
Hagel, a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2008, responded that gasoline prices were likely to stay high for the foreseeable future because of rising world demand and the U.S. failure to develop new energy sources and conserve.
Earlier the same day in Lincoln, an elderly woman asked about Iraq. "Why are we there in the first place?" she asked.
On Tuesday in the central Nebraska town of Lexington, after a meeting with law enforcement officials on drug problems, three sheriffs expressed serious doubts about what the United States was doing in Iraq and whether it could succeed.
Hagel, a Vietnam veteran, acknowledged the U.S. military presence was becoming harder and harder to justify. He believes Iraq faces a serious danger of civil war that would threaten Middle East stability, and said there is little Washington can do to avert this.
"We are seen as occupiers, we are targets. We have got to get out. I don't think we can sustain our current policy, nor do I think we should," he said at one stop.
Hagel deserves props for saying such out loud.
But he needs to go further.
As a Vietnam veteran, he has intimate experience with the death, maiming and waste of human lives for obscene personal political purposes.
It is a moral imperative that he actively work to end this repeat of the Vietnam tragedy.
He must become the GOP spear carrier for not just saying we have to get out but for taking action to make this departure happen, sooner rather than later.
Why do I burden Chuck Hagel with this?
Because he both bears some of the responsibility but more so, he is capable of this task and it possibly could benefit him politically.
Chuck Hagel is from the political party that was most gung-ho about the Iraqi invasion--he voted for it. He carries the gravitas that so many in either major political party do not--he is a combat veteran. He is at his core a staunch Republican from the one of the reddest areas of this country, not a 'fringe' GOPer who flirts with the Democrats. The justification for departing Iraq is there for his taking--he has even spoke of it. He would possess the high moral ground.
Sure, such an action would set the pundits tittering and likely hurt his political standing with a number of the GOP base come 2008.
But maybe not. Maybe, just maybe, there are even enough Republicans who are fed up and realize a new direction is needed in Iraq and elsewhere, and now. There would certainly be quite a number of independent and even Democratic voters who would cast their respective lots with him, based upon his wanting to and doing what is right. But yes, he would need to first clear the Republican primaries to enjoy the all-around support.
Taking such action would set him apart from fellow candidates John McCain, Rudy Guliani, George Allen, Bill Frist and the rest.
He would be a politician with a conscience. One who will choose to do the right thing over the political expedient.
Hero or pariah--will he do it?
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