Obama to fill key posts in weeks, Hagel on Pentagon short list

[DonViejo]

Source: Reuters

By Matt Spetalnick
WASHINGTON | Tue Dec 4, 2012 5:18pm EST
(Reuters) - President Barack Obama is expected to announce his nominees for secretaries of state and defense in the next two weeks, with former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel on the short list of potential choices to head the Pentagon, senior administration officials said on Tuesday.

Hagel, whose appointment would give Obama's reshuffled second-term Cabinet a bipartisan cast, met the Democratic president at the White House this week to discuss a post on his national security team. But there was no sign that Obama had decided on any of the key nominations he will put forth.

Obama is still deliberating whether to unveil his top national security appointments, likely to include a new CIA director, in a single high-profile package this month or to name them one-by-one, according to an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Other top contenders to replace Defense Secretary Leon Panetta are believed to include former senior Pentagon official Michele Flournoy, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Democratic Senator John Kerry.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/04/us-obama-cabinet-idUSBRE8B314420121204

[Joey Liberal]

1. Hagel would be a great choice

We need to keep Kerry in the Senate and this guy is the logical choice.

[Kolesar]

2. He has a brain and he was courageous to oppose the Iraq War

There is another conflict in the Middle East where we need to confront the status quo.

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. Good. Very good.

That will take the wind out of the sails of the blowhard republicans, and preserve John Kerry's senate seat.

[geckosfeet]

9. Are you kidding - nothing takes the wind out them - they are so full of hot air.

But if it keeps Kerry in his seat I am all for it.

But looking at it conversely, what would happen if President Obama nominated a current republican senator, one whose seat could be filled by a Democrat? That might be interesting.

I have no idea who fits the bill though...

[TwilightGardener]

5. One thing I really liked about Gates was that he was

very empathetic towards the troops, always concerned for them. Hagel would be, too--he was an enlisted grunt in Vietnam, and has been very supportive of active duty and veterans. That's the sort of person who should be in the DoD.

[sulphurdunn]

6. A Vietnam

enlisted rank infantry grunt as Secretary of State. I'll be damned.

[Tx4obama]

8. Secretary of DEFENSE.

Chuck Hagel is currently the Chairman of President Obama's Intelligence Advisory Board
Assumed office: October 28, 2009
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Hagel

[sulphurdunn]

10. Well, Hell...

I'll be even more damned. There's poetic irony involved with generals kissing the ass of a buck sergeant.

[madrchsod]

12. lahood has done a good job and why would`t hagel?

[Tx4obama]

13. Kick! n/t

[Cha]

14. Important Decisions. The best of good

fortune in getting the right people for their respective jobs.

thanks DonViejo