“Hagel is Obama in a GOP jersey”

By nominating Chuck Hagel to be his Defense secretary, President Obama is putting forward an aloof contrarian who doesn’t suffer fools–a striving politician who considers himself above politics. Hagel’s intellectual arrogance angers party colleagues, raising suspicions about what he really stands for, as well as doubts about whether he’s a team player.

In other words, Obama has picked a man very much like himself. Hagel is Obama in a GOP jersey.

That may be the biggest reason why Hagel’s confirmation in the Senate, while likely, will not be easy.