Will Republicans regret the decision to delay Chuck Hagel's nomination?

Republicans flexed some political muscle with their unprecedented filibuster of a cabinet nominee. But it could open them to charges of 'obstructionism' and lead to more constraints on the power of the minority.

By Liz Marlantes,?Correspondent / February 15, 2013

Sen. John McCain (R) of Arizona (l.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) of South Carolina confer at the start of Thursday's Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. The two Republicans are opposing the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be the next secretary of Defense.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

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Did Senate Republicans win a political victory with their filibuster (though they've declined to call it that) of Defense nominee Chuck Hagel? Or will it prove to be a Pyrrhic one?

Skip to next paragraph Liz Marlantes

Correspondent

Liz Marlantes covers politics for the Monitor and is a regular contributor to the Monitor's political blog, DC Decoder.

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On the one hand, Republicans are again putting the White House on notice that, despite their minority status, they still have the power to block pretty much any part of President Obama's agenda ? including even his cabinet nominees ? and that Democrats are going to have to work with them, if they want to get anything done.?

On the other hand, Republicans have opened themselves up to charges of?taking "obstruction" to new heights, with an unprecedented filibuster of a cabinet nominee, who happens to be a decorated Vietnam veteran and a Republican. Republicans have done this, Democrats will argue, because they view Mr. Hagel as a traitor to his party for turning against the Iraq War (an issue on which the majority of Americans side with Hagel, according to polls).

More to the point, this may prove to be just the incentive Democrats need when it comes to passing meaningful filibuster reform ? as opposed to the watered-down measure passed last month ? in order to put more constraints on the power of the minority.

In hindsight, it's telling that Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) decided to go ahead with the cloture vote, knowing he probably didn't have the 60 votes needed to end debate and proceed to an up-or-down vote on Hagel's nomination. Reid could have just delayed the matter, while Democrats tried to get one more Republican to agree to cloture. But instead he forced the other side to go through with their filibuster threat.

As Sen. John Cornyn (R) of Texas theorized later: "The White House and the majority leader were determined to have this vote in order to try to get a story in the newspaper, one that misrepresents the nature of the objection on [the Republican] side."

Indeed, Senator Reid immediately charged those Republicans blocking Hagel's nomination with jeopardizing the nation's security in order to please their base. "Watching Republicans with otherwise distinguished records on national security place their desire to please the tea party ahead of doing the right thing for our troops is one of the saddest spectacles I have witnessed in my 27 years in the Senate," Reid said on the floor Thursday night.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/ZbPEs2M7cjQ/Will-Republicans-regret-the-decision-to-delay-Chuck-Hagel-s-nomination

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