FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY CHUCK HAGEL ACCUSES OBAMA WHITE HOUSE OF TRYING ‘TO DESTROY ME’ AFTER HE WAS FORCED OUT OF OFFICE: Gee, there’s a shock – considering Obama’s entire career as president is built around his fighting midwestern Republicans far more tenaciously than ISIS or al Qaeda. And Hagel should have known that when he got in bed with Obama’s administration in the first place.
But as Ed Morrissey writes, Hagel’s accusation isn’t an isolated one; it highlights a much larger pattern for Barry:
So far, he has had four Secretaries of Defense — Robert Gates, Leon Panetta, Hagel, and the current SecDef, Ash Carter. All three who have departed Obama’s administration have leveled serious criticisms of the way in which security and military issues have been handled. Hagel’s allegations are the most serious of them all, but fits the pattern suggested by the memoirs of his predecessors.
Hagel sealed his fate when he refused to go along with the White House’s desire to empty Guantanamo Bay. He blocked transfers based on threat assessments from within the Department of Defense, and that angered the White House. In the end, Hagel — who didn’t have a lot of credibility for this position in the first place — found himself isolated and outmatched politically.
Perhaps not for much longer, though. Hagel will certainly produce his own memoirs soon enough, and those may prove even more intriguing than Gates’ or Panetta’s.
No matter what happens in next year’s election, the memoirs to emerge after this staggeringly incompetent administration is over will be loads of fun for political junkies to consume.