Sen. Lamar Alexander
Republican Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s choice for Defense Secretary, testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington.WASHINGTON – An arm slumped over his chair in the Senate chamber, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander seemed absent from the proceedings, relaxing his wiry frame and chatting away.
Grinning and equally laid-back was the colleague to his right: U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, an ideological ally, a Georgia Republican and another Southern-statesman type.
As they whispered back and forth, a mainstay from the rival party, U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., towered over the main podium. He offered an impassioned plea for former Sen. Chuck Hagel, the Vietnam veteran, Nebraska Republican and, most recently, President Obama’s controversial nominee for secretary of defense.
The dissonance of a week ago — Levin pounding his fist for a quick confirmation vote as Alexander, Isakson and others ignored him — illustrated the gulf between Democrats and Republicans on Obama’s choice to lead America’s military.
“The world is too dangerous to have this period of uncertainty,” Levin said. “There is no need for it.”