Voices
GARY
HART
HUFFINGTON
02.03.13
AP PHOTO/PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS, FILE
One Seat
That’s Always
Saved for
Republicans
T
HERE IS A DISTINCT pattern for Democratic presidents to select Republicans as Secretaries of Defense.
These include: Bill Cohen, Robert Gates, Leon Panetta
(a Democrat who began as a Republican), and now
Chuck Hagel. All of these were good Secretaries. ¶ But
the question is whether there are any Democrats who
are qualified to manage the Pentagon, and if not, why
not. There is some history to consider. For decades,
Taft (or traditional conservative, isolationist) Republicans claimed that the Democratic party was the war
party. They cited Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt,
Harry Truman, John Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson as
evidence. The political claim was: “Democrats get us
into wars.” This was repeated by a traditionally con-
Pres. Obama
shakes
hands with
his choice
for Defense
Secretary,
former
Nebraska
Sen. Chuck
Hagel (R).