Voices
servative Republican Robert Dole
as recently as the late 1970s.
But he was late in his timing.
Anti-Vietnam war protesters gravitated toward the Democratic party
during the 1968 and 1972 elections
and, thereafter, exerted influence
on most matters relating to the
military. They opposed the draft,
most major new weapons systems,
military intervention almost anywhere, Cold War confrontations,
and most of all increased military
budgets. To be liberal was to be
skeptical if not hostile toward defense and the military.
As a new member of the Senate Armed Services Committee
during this transition from war
party to peace party in the 1970s,
this became counter-productive at
the least and obstructionist at the
worst. We had legitimate national
security concerns. The issue wasn’t
to run and hide from this reality but
how best to respond to it.
If you look at the national leaders the Democratic party produced
in the last 30 or 40 years, very few
qualified as knowledgeable about
security and defense matters. So,
once elected to national office, they
found it necessary to look to the
new war party, the Republicans, for
credentials on defense. It was non-
GARY
HART
HUFFINGTON
02.03.13
sense to believe that by selecting a
Republican Secretary of Defense a
Democratic White House was buying insurance against attacks for
being “weak on defense.” It has
never worked. There is no such insurance, as Pres. Obama will find
with Secretary of Defense Hagel
whose nomination will be opposed
by many if not most Republicans.
As a decorated Vietnam war veteran, Sen. Hagel is rightly skeptical
of using military force
as the preeminent
foreign policy tool, and
There
he has more strictly
is a distinct
defined U.S. national
pattern for
security interests than
Democratic
the knee-jerk hawks
presidents
who rarely find a conto select
flict in which they do
Republicans
not wish to intervene.
as Secretaries
But even after he has
of Defense.”
a term as a successful
Secretary of Defense
as I hope, there will still remain
the question: When will Democrats
rightly claim to be the most knowledgeable, thoughtful, experienced,
imaginative leaders on defense of our nation?
Gary Hart is a former Democratic
Senator and president of Hart International, Ltd.