The article today by Tom Friedman at the New York Times, “Give Chuck a Chance,” has put a solid, revitalized wind in Chuck Hagel’s potential SecDef nomination sails.
The Republican Jewish Coalition has suggested that this comment of mine is just hype:
[The Friedman article] makes it clear that attempts by the neoconservative community to portray monolithic Jewish-American opposition to Chuck Hagel’s nomination just shattered.
Seems to me the RJC is helping to make my point.
I don’t know if Chuck Hagel will be nominated by the President. I hope he is as I think among the whispered contenders, he would be the best at forging a new and effective Department of Defense that delivers on America’s security needs despite the austerity budgets surely ahead.
But on the issue of the importance of the Friedman article, I’ll stand my ground. I think that he has shown overtly what has always been the case: there is a great diversity of viewpoints among Jewish-Americans about national security issues, and I don’t believe that the campaign against Hagel by the RJC and some other institutions has wanted that reality punctuated.
Thanks Tom Friedman for your clarity and smart analysis.
— Steve Clemons
