If Not Hagel, Flournoy?
Last night, we posted my story on some (some) pro-Israel objections to President Obama's rumored choice for defense secretary, former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.).
No one in the administration has formally touted Hagel, mind you -- not in the way that Obama himself made clear he was considering Susan Rice for the job at State, when he defended her against her attackers.
And one of the odd things about the emphasis on Hagel as a frontrunner is that another name kept cropping up, with not much less frequency -- Michele Flournoy, the current deputy defense secretary.
So now, the Hagel-dislikers (Hagel Haters works better phonically, but is inaccurate) are flooding my Inbox with cheers for Flournoy, who under Obama has been at the nexus of the U.S.-Israel defense realtionship -- the area of the relationship where close working relationships have flourished (as opposed to the diplomatic arena, where there have been tensions).
Naturally, one's conspiratorial mind begins to diagram jiu-jitsu plays -- Was Hagel an Obamatron decoy to make sure Flournoy gets a clear run? Are the neoconservatives on to this and preemptively embracing Flournoy so it looks like a win for their side?
MORE...
http://blogs.jta.org/politics/article/2012/12/19/3114926/flournoy-to-defense
