Barack Obama wimping out on Chuck Hagel?

Hmm.  Could be:

Besieged by criticism from right and left, and considerable skepticism from his former Senate colleagues, Chuck Hagel appears to be following the path of Susan Rice as a trial-balloon nominee who finds himself quickly losing altitude in Washington. And as happened with Rice, the White House is now signaling that it may soon puncture Hagel’s hopes.

Just as occurred with Rice, the U.N. ambassador whose prospective nomination as secretary of State—leaked to the media—flamed out in the face of widespread criticism of her, President Obama appears to be rethinking his choice for Defense secretary.

If true… then it’s nice to see that the torpedo buttons at least still work on this thing. I was starting to wonder.

Via:

RT @thegoldfarb White House Wavers on Hagel, Considers Others for Defense yhoo.it/12JottT

— Daniel Drezner (@dandrezner) December 23, 2012

Moe Lane

PS: What’s that? …Of course I’m going to claim part of the scalp, if it happens. Emphasis on ‘part:’ we all have our parts to play.