50/50: Number Assigned to Chuck Hagel's Chances of Withdrawing from Consideration, and Also His Verbal/Mathematical IQ

But bear in mind this is just one guy's estimation.

Still, he's a veteran security reporter, so I guess he has some basis for making this eye-catching claim. (Which really isn't even a claim: If you say something's 50/50, how can you lose? If Hagel doesn't withdraw, you just say, "That was the other 50%.")

Ricks says that Hagel "didn't do well" in his Senate hearing last week, and didn't seem "interested in the job."

"He has the votes, but not much else," writes Ricks. "His big problem is that no one much wants him running the Pentagon.... Democratic support in the Senate appears more dutiful than passionate."

Ricks says Hagel's position right now is a "problem." He writes, "The prospect of a Hagel regime at DOD is a real problem now because the next SecDef will need to do two things: Work with Congress to reduce the defense budget thoughtfully, and work with the military to re-shape the military to make it relevant to future conflict. At the moment, Hagel appears to lack the political capital to do the former, as well as the intellectual appetite to do the latter."

He barely has the intellectual appetite for cookies.

posted by Ace at 04:29 PM

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