Chuck Hagel's Afghanistan Positions Align Closely To Obama's, Despite War Critic Reputation

In this June 26, 2008 file photo, then-Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) speaks on foreign policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington. President Barack Obama may round out his new national security leadership team next week, with a nomination for defense secretary expected and a pick to lead the CIA possible. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke, File)

President Barack Obama is reportedly set to nominate former Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam veteran and outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, as his secretary of defense on Monday.

Hagel, a Republican who represented the state of Nebraska for two terms, famously broke with his party in the mid 2000s over the Bush administration's handling of the war on terror and its military adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But while Hagel has built a solid reputation -- decried by the right and hailed by the left -- for being a no-nonsense war critic and foreign policy realist, he has also emerged as a quiet partner of President Obama on foreign policy, a relationship that dates back to their shared time on Capitol Hill and extending into Hagel's retirement.

That relationship is no better exemplified than in the debate over Obama's troop surge in Afghanistan, about which Hagel had been publicly skeptical but in the end a tactic he largely avoided criticizing as he had done previously with the surge in Iraq.

In 2006, as Congress debated supporting President Bush's troop surge into Iraq, Hagel fiercely opposed the plan, calling it "the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam."

Similarly, he often charged that a surge into Afghanistan would be a mistake if there was not a better-articulated overall strategy.

"I'm not sure we know what the hell we are doing in Afghanistan," Hagel told The National Journal's Michael Hirsh in 2010. "It's not sustainable at all. I think we're marking time as we slaughter more young people."

But his message on the Afghanistan troop surge was always more complex. In the summer of 2009, as the Obama administration studied the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan and prepared for a possible surge of troops into that war, Hagel offered surprisingly high praise for the president's deliberation process.

"It's a tough call -- I think it's going to be his toughest call in his first four years," said Hagel in a September 2009 speech at St. John's University in Minnesota. "Whatever he says, he's going to get hit politically ... You're going to have one hell of a shootout here. This guy Obama's smart enough, he's tough enough, he'll do what he thinks is right for the country."

In addition to praising the president, Hagel's own position has come more in line with that of Obama, whose thoughts on the surge were in evidence when the president was just a candidate calling for a renewed focus on Afghanistan.

"We are stretched too thin in Afghanistan, in my opinion, with manpower," Obama said on "Face the Nation" in July 2008, at a time when Hagel had still refused to endorse John McCain for president and was already fielding questions about whether he might take a cabinet position in an Obama administration. "We are going to have to put some additional troops in there."

By the summer of 2009, when General Stanley McChrystal delivered his Afghanistan troop assessment that called for tens of thousands of new forces, Hagel had gone from anti-war gadfly to an instrumental part of the Obama foreign policy machine, including positions on Secretary of Defense Bob Gates' defense policy board and Obama's intelligence advisory board.

"I've had some input on this," he said, during the 2009 speech, in response to a question about the surge. "I'm on the secretary of defense's policy advisory board, and I spent a day and a half last week with the national security adviser [James] Jones last weekend. So I have some ways in. Doesn't mean they listen to me, but I do have some sense of what's ahead here."

The speech, part of the Eugene J. McCarthy lecture series (which honors the famous senator-turned-Vietnam war critic), would have been an ideal environment for Hagel to express any strong misgivings about the ultimate plan to escalate the war in Afghanistan. Instead, Hagel tempered his critique.

"I think the president is approaching this very carefully, listening to all sides," he said. "I've talked to McChrystal, Admiral [Mike] Mullen. I've told them my thoughts on this because they've asked me. They've got to figure it out what is our strategic purpose, our doctrine, and then match the resources."

Posted: 01/07/2013 11:18 am EST

Updated: 01/07/2013 11:31 am EST
Joshua Hersh

To a higher degree: Respect in politics central to SJU

St. John’s was founded by five Benedictine monks
who had traveled to Central Minnesota when it was
still a territory in 1857. Though more than 150
years have passed since its founding, we continue
to be guided by the principles and values that have
been part of the Benedictine tradition for more than
1,500 years.

“Listen … with the ear of your heart.” These are the
first words in the Prologue of The Rule of St.
Benedict. The Rule teaches about the basic monastic
virtues of humility, silence and obedience, and
provides directives for daily living. Those seven
words are not just significant for ancient monks and
Catholics, but for all of us who live in today’s world
of extreme political views, vitriolic discourse and
blistering sound bites meant to pass as persuasive
information.

We have all heard enough political ads in recent
months to know that politicians and pundits are too
often not listening to each other at all, much less
with an open mind and heart.

As a Benedictine, liberal arts college, we have a deep
commitment to remaining open to the voices and
ideas of others. We are committed to providing
students with a broad-based education that teaches
students how to think, but not what to think. Our
mission is to send students into the world prepared
to lead and serve.

To do this we must be an intentionally welcoming
place for people of a variety of beliefs to engage in
respectful, open and challenging conversations
about current issues and problems. Like other
educational institutions, we can perform a valuable
service if we model the way and lead by positive
example.

The Eugene J. McCarthy Center for Public Policy and
Civic Engagement at St. John’s University is one
venue through which our students are provided
opportunities to learn about and engage in politics,
public policy development and service to the
common good.

The center was named for McCarthy, Minnesota’s
former Democratic senator and 19-year-old
graduate in St. John’s class of 1935. The center’s
website states, “In this day and age of ‘Crossfire’
political reasoning and us/them political rhetoric,
many young people are unfortunately steering away
from political engagement. As a result, the faculty
and core group of students from the Center work
diligently to create venues for constructive,
responsible and interesting civic debate and
engagement in community affairs.”


The center hosts a variety of seminars, study
programs, internships and public lectures. The
Mark Kennedy Frontiers of Freedom Lecture Series is
one such event. (The series is named for former
Republican U.S. Congressmen Mark Kennedy, SJU
class of 1979.) The goal of this lecture series is to
intentionally add “intellectual diversity” to the center
so that multiple political perspectives are presented
and critically evaluated.

The Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture is also hosted by
the Center and seeks to inspire a new generation of
young people to pursue fresh ideas, to challenge
the status quo, to effect positive change in their
communities and, like McCarthy himself, to lead with
honesty, integrity and courage.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., presented the fourth
annual lecture this year and was introduced by
former Sen. Dave Durenberger, R-Minn., SJU class of
1955.

In closing her lecture, Klobuchar quoted a 1967
speech by Eugene McCarthy in which he declared
that the American spirit has a grand purpose and a
clear prerogative, “to offer in place of doubt, trust;
in place of expediency, good judgment; in place of
incredibility, integrity; in place of murmuring, let us
have clear speech; let us again hear America
singing.”

In this season of heated political debate, I urge you
to study the issues by listening with the ear of your
heart, and then respectfully express your opinion
through your vote at the polls.

This is the opinion of the Rev. Bob Koopmann, OSB,
president of St. John’s University. To A Higher
Degree is published the fourth Sunday of the month
and rotates among the presidents of the four largest
Central Minnesota higher education institutions.

Klobuchar recalls McCarthy during talk at SJU

COLLEGEVILLE — Sen. Amy Klobuchar paid tribute to a political icon of Minnesota's past by referencing a current political figure from Alaska.
Klobuchar, DFL-Minn., spoke Monday night at the Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture at St. John's University.
McCarthy, a St. John's alum and U.S. senator from Minnesota, rose to national prominence in 1968 as an anti-war challenger to then-President and fellow Democrat Lyndon Johnson.
McCarthy's independence and willingness to buck his party sets him apart from most of today's politicians, Klobuchar told an audience of students, faculty and university boosters.
"He went rogue before Sarah Palin had even shot her first moose," Klobuchar said of McCarthy.
Klobuchar likened today's economic uncertainty and political acrimony to the Vietnam War-era turmoil of 1968, the moment in history with which Klobuchar said McCarthy is most commonly associated.
She suggested now is an ideal time for the U.S. to revisit two causes McCarthy championed: boosting educational standards and increasing U.S. engagement in the international community.
Those causes offer a prescription for the U.S. to retain its world stature in the face of increasing competition from rival countries, such as China and India, Klobuchar said.
The U.S. must boost manufacturing exports, better educate its work force and allow more international students to stay in the U.S. after they graduate, Klobuchar said.
Klobuchar also offered suggestions to reduce partisan gridlock in the U.S. Senate. She called for new limits on use of the Senate filibuster, and for ending a practice where Klobuchar said senators can secretly delay votes on bills.
McCarthy served in a time of ideological diversity within America's two major political parties, Klobuchar said.
Throughout the years bipartisan coalitions in Congress have passed sweeping legislation to create Medicare and reform welfare programs, Klobuchar said.
Klobuchar said such two-party coalitions are far tougher to assemble today, in a political climate dominated by a 24-hour cable-news cycle.
"Today a politician who bucks the party line is risking his political life," Klobuchar said.
The lecture was sponsored by the Eugene J. McCarthy Center for Public Policy and Civic Engagement, which serves students at St. John's and the College of St. Benedict. Past speakers at the McCarthy Lecture were former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel, former NAACP Chairman Julian Bond and Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne.

2009 McCarthy Lecture Speaker Appointed by Obama as Co-Chair the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.

McCarthy Lecture Follow-up: Senator Chuck Hagel

The 2009 McCarthy Lector and former U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel (Neb-R) has been appointed by President Obama as Co-Chair of the Presidential Intelligence Advisory Board (or PIAB). The PIAB aids the President by giving advice on matters pertaining to intelligence. During Hagel’s lecture at St. John’s University, Hagel focused his speech upon a renewal in the transparency of government. Hagel also called for the revival of civil discourse and open discussion. This advisory board is precisely what Hagel advocated during the lecture. The PIAB is a non-partisan team dedicated to the protection of freedom. In the words of President Obama, this board, “improves the collection of intelligence, ensures that analysis reaches senior decision-makers in a timely way, and provides strong oversight to ensure that our intelligence activities are consistent with our democratic values and the rule of law.” The McCarthy Center would like to congratulate Senator Hagel on his appointment and wish him luck as he continues to serve his country with leadership, honesty, and patriotism.

Follow the link below to view the YouTube presentation:

President Obama Welcomes Senators Hagel and Boren to Intelligence Team...

Hagel: Rudeness in Politics Must End

Former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska delivers the third annual Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture on Wednesday in the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater at St. John's University. (Jason Wachter, jwachter@stcloudtimes.com)


By Dave Aeikens • daeikens@stcloudtimes.com • September 24, 2009

COLLEGEVILLE —

Former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska said the political discourse in the country has turned so poor that it threatens democracy and America's international standing.

Hagel spoke for about 40 minutes Wednesday night at the Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture at St. John's University. Hagel, who served in the Senate from 1997-2009, was the first Republican senator to speak out against the Iraq war.

"I am concerned our country has lost a good deal of what Eugene McCarthy is all about," Hagel said.

Addressing an audience of more than 400 students and other guests that included McCarthy's family and former U.S. Sen. Dave Durenberger and former U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy, Hagel questioned whether the country will allow rudeness to take over the political system.

"Public discourse has gotten so raw, so rude, so embarrassing it has really debased our system," Hagel said.

He said any fool can stand up and scream and any fool can stand up and call names.

"It takes conscience and courage to find a solution to a problem," Hagel said.

The world is as combustible and interconnected as it has ever been, Hagel said. But the U.S. has great capacity to solve the problems of the world.

"We will never get there if we so debase the process we use to get there," Hagel said.

Hagel pointed to the tenor in the debate on health care policy changes as an example of where the public discourse has gone off the tracks. He said the screaming and rudeness has to stop.

"This is not what a civilized society does," Hagel said.

Hagel said McCarthy, a St. John's graduate from Watkins who served in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, worked to solve problems and disagreed with others in a respectful and honorable way. McCarthy in 1967 was among the first to challenge President Lyndon Johnson, a fellow Democrat, on the U.S. policy in Vietnam.

"That is another dimension on why McCarthy was so important at a very important time," Hagel said.

Hagel said President Obama is confronting more problems than Abraham Lincoln.

He said he has seen how the country has lost its ability to self-govern because it is paralyzed by partisanship.

"We have to bring some semblance back of a governing coalition in the country," Hagel said.

Former Sen. Chuck Hagel to speak in Collegeville, Minn.

Star Tribune

Last update: September 3, 2009 - 8:52 PM

Former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel will deliver the annual Eugene McCarthy Lecture at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn., this month. The speech by Hagel represents something of a historical convergence: Dedicated to the memory of one of the most trenchant Democratic opponents of the Vietnam War, it's being delivered by the first Republican senator to oppose the war in Iraq. McCarthy, whose 1968 presidential run effectively toppled President Lyndon Johnson, attended St. John's and was a member of the Benedictine community at St. John's Abbey. He served in Congress from 1949 until 1971. Hagel represented Nebraska in the Senate from 1997 until this year. A Vietnam veteran, he was considered a maverick in the GOP and his name was floated last year as a potential running mate or Cabinet member for President Obama.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public,
will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 23.

BOB VON STERNBERG

Video: Second Annual McCarthy Lecture with Julian Bond

The McCarthy Center welcomes Julian Bond for the 2008 McCarthy Lecture

Video: Eugene McCarthy memorial service

The Saint John's memorial Mass from January 23, 2006. Abbot John Klassen of Saint John's Abbey will be the celebrant. Eulogists include Walter Mondale, former U.S. vice president; Albert Eisele, a Saint John’s alumnus and a long-time Washington journalist whose book, "Almost to the Presidency," is a biographical review of Eugene McCarthy and Hubert Humphrey; Eugene McCarthy’s son, Michael; and the Rev. Hilary Thimmesh, OSB, president emeritus at Saint John’s.

CSB/SJU Welcomes Julian Bond for the 2008 McCarthy Lecture

The Eugene J. McCarthy Center for Public Policy and Civic Engagement announces that Julian Bond, chairman of the board of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), will deliver the secondannual Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture at 7 p.m. Wed., Oct. 29, in the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater on the Saint John's University campus.

E.J. Dionne inaugural speaker at Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture

Editor's Note: E.J. Dionne was a guest on Minnesota Public Radio's Midday program on Tuesday, April 17.

Gene McCarthy admired the writings of Washington Post newspaper columnist, author and commentator E.J. Dionne, Jr. That admiration was mutual.

Dionne praised McCarthy as a "poetic Isaiah whose plain literacy puts many other politicians to shame" and that rare politician "willing to stand alone in the hope that, once in a while, something good might happen."

As the inaugural speaker in the Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 19 at the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater, Saint John's University, Collegeville, Dionne will honor McCarthy for his courage to speak out alone in a time of war. His speech, "The Promise and Limits of Politics: What Gene McCarthy Taught Us," is free and open to the public.

Dionne is noted for a keen intellect that delivers reasoned analysis with a passion for people – traits that also applied to the late U.S. representative and senator from Minnesota and Saint John’s University graduate. Dionne – like McCarthy – is also Irish and Catholic.

Dionne's op-ed column – which began in 1993 in the Post – appears in syndication to more than 100 newspapers. He joined the staff of the Post in 1990 as a reporter.

Prior to joining the Post, Dionne spent 14 years working as a reporter for the New York Times newspaper, reporting on state and local government, national politics and from around the world, including stints in Paris, Rome and Berlin.

His best-selling book, "Why Americans Hate Politics: Death of the Democratic Process" (1991, Simon and Schuster), was called a "classic in American political history" by Newsday. It won the Los Angeles Times book prize, and was a National Book Award nominee.

Dionne has also written "They Only Look Dead: Why Progressives Will Dominate the Next Political Era" (1996, Simon and Schuster) and "Stand Up, Fight Back: Republican Toughs, Democratic Wimps and the Politics of Revenge" (2004, Simon and Schuster).

He is a regular political analyst on National Public Radio, and is a frequent commentator on CNN and NBC's "Meet the Press."

In May 1996, Dionne joined the Brookings Institution as a senior fellow in the Governance Studies Program. He is also a senior advisor to The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, and a professor at the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute.

Dionne grew up in Fall River, Mass. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University in 1973, and received his doctorate from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

The Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture was announced in January 2006, following a memorial service to the three-time presidential candidate at Saint John’s Abbey Church. McCarthy, a native of nearby Watkins, Minn., spent seven years as a student at Saint John's Preparatory School and University, and nearly one year as a member of the Benedictine community of Saint John's Abbey.

The annual public lecture will feature distinguished speakers who will address topics cherished by McCarthy – including politics, poetry, social and economic justice, constitutional reform, campaign finance and other pertinent public policy issues.

The lectureship will carry on McCarthy's deep commitment to the ideals and principles of democratic self-government. It will seek to inspire a new generation of young people to pursue fresh ideas, to challenge the status quo, to effect positive change in their communities and, like McCarthy himself, to lead with honesty, integrity and courage.

Saint John’s University Announces The Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture

Saint John’s University announces the establishment of The Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture to honor one of its most distinguished graduates.

The annual public lecture, conducted at Saint John’s University, will feature distinguished speakers who will address topics cherished by Senator McCarthy – politics, poetry, social and economic justice, constitutional reform, campaign finance – as well as other pertinent public policy issues.

The announcement followed a memorial service for McCarthy attended by his family, friends, monastic confreres and political contemporaries, including former Vice President Walter Mondale.

During seven years as a student at Saint John’s Preparatory School and University and nearly a year as a member of the Benedictine community of Saint John’s Abbey, McCarthy was exposed to significant spiritual and intellectual movements – monasticism, liturgical renewal, social action, ecumenism, liberal arts – which he integrated into the fabric of his personal and professional life.

Late in life, McCarthy expressed his hope “that future generations of students are exposed to the same intellectual movements I encountered as a student at Saint John’s.”

“By establishing The Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture, Saint John’s seeks to ensure that the memory and legacy of this remarkable and courageous man will live on as a source of inspiration for generations to come," said Br. Dietrich Reinhart, OSB, president of Saint John’s University. “Gene McCarthy embodied values at the heart of Benedictine life and reckoned deeply with Catholic teachings on social justice and personal integrity. He was a man whose college education and religious formation prepared him to lead others by manifesting a Christian conscience in his writing, speaking and actions.”

Reinhart added, "This lectureship will further Senator McCarthy’s commitment to democracy, and it will advance his resolve to ‘restore faith in the processes of American politics and government.’”

The McCarthy Lecture will be a centerpiece of the Center for Public Policy at Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict.

“I sincerely hope that one day soon the lectureship will evolve into a full-fledged endowed Chair in honor of Senator McCarthy,” noted Reinhart. “Gene dreamed that one day such a program would focus on ‘social justice and its relationship to economic history and moral teachings of the Catholic Church.’”

The lectureship will carry on McCarthy’s deep commitment to the ideals and principles of democratic self-government. It will seek to inspire a new generation of young people to pursue fresh ideas, to challenge the status quo, to effect positive change in their communities and, like McCarthy himself, to lead with honesty, integrity and courage.

To reflect McCarthy’s interests, this lecture series will be comprehensive in scope. It will emphasize, in McCarthy’s words, “the projection of the spiritual and intellectual ideals that I was first exposed to at Saint John’s into politics and government.”

In expressing the McCarthy family’s appreciation to Saint John’s for establishing a lectureship in honor their father, Michael McCarthy stated, “The scope of this series promises to stimulate the kind of thoughtful discussion our father sought to promote in his public and private life—discussion informed not just by policy and politics but also by poetry, philosophy and by concerns of the people, whose voice too often goes unheeded.”

McCarthy, who died at age 89 on December 10, 2005, was a seminal figure in Minnesota and national politics in the last half of the 20th century. He was a five-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives, a two-term U.S. Senator and a three-time presidential candidate. He changed the course of history when he sought the presidency in 1968, galvanizing popular opposition to the war in Vietnam, forcing President Johnson from office and hastening the end of a war that cost more than 58,000 American lives.

Memorials to the Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture may be made to:

The Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture Fund
Saint John’s University
P.O. Box 7222
Collegeville, MN 56321