Whether You Agree with Him or Not...

you have to hand it to Senator Chuck Hagel. The conservative Republican, a former businessperson and a veteran of Vietnam, would like to be President of the United States. But he may have kissed those ambitions goodbye with his announcement today. He's joining two Democratic senators--Biden of Delaware and Levin of Michigan--in introducing a Senate resolution opposing President Bush's surge plan.

While current opinion polls indicate that such opposition is popular with the American public generally, Republican voters are more inclined to favor the surge. Hagel may find it difficult to gain GOP support for the nomination.

In its way, Hagel's stance is as courageous as that of Arizaona senator John McCain. McCain is an outspoken advocate of the surge, a position likely to gain him support for the Republican nomination, but unlikely to play well with the electorate in the fall of 2008, if current trends continue.

Bottom line: Both McCain and Hagel, who supported the Arizonan in 2000, deserve kudos for taking positions they manifestly believe in despite the political risks. Their "profiles in courage" are laudable, refreshing in an era when too many pols seem intent on deciding what they believe based on the latest polls. This is especially the case when one considers that, for a long time, Hagel has been a critic of the war and McCain an advocate of greater troop strength in Iraq. No tacking in the political winds, at least on this issue, has been exhibited by either man.

[For an interesting, though perhaps historically flawed, look at Hagel, see here.]