An Impressive Guy

I continue to be impressed by Nebraska's Senator Chuck Hagel. He appeared this evening on Chris Matthews' show, Hardball.

Hagel, twice decorated with the Purple Heart for his service in Vietnam, was interviewed about the War in Iraq. Hagel was among the few Republicans who in the ramp-up to the war, expressed concern about it and has expressed chagrin that, as in Vietnam, insufficient numbers of troops were committed to the task. Hagel seems to view the war as a departure from the traditional Republican tack of the judicious use of military force and only committing troops to conflict with an overpowering, sustainable advantage. (That was the Eisenhower Doctrine and after the mistakes of the Kennedy and Johnson Years in Vietnam, it became known as the Powell Doctrine.)

Misgivings or no, Hagel refused to be pulled too far out into political or military autopsy by Matthews, and instead insisted that the task before America now is simply to make Iraq a success.

I appreciate Hagel's candor and refusal to get bogged down in counterproductive finger-pointing, no matter what one's politics. We need more of his brand of non-partisanship in the country, I think.