Hagel visible, but may not be viable as veep

Then there’s Hagel’s stand on another controversy high on the nation’s agenda now: same-sex marriage.

In 2004, on a procedural vote, Hagel voted to go forward toward Senate approval of a constitutional amendment that would have banned marriage between same-sex couples.

Even McCain voted against it, as did all Democratic senators, except three: Hagel’s fellow Nebraskan Ben Nelson, West Virginia’s Robert Byrd and Georgia’s Zell Miller, who ended up denouncing his own party in 2004 and endorsing Bush.

A conservative voting record
If Obama were to select Hagel, Democratic activists would have to accommodate themselves to a man with a conservative past.

When he sought his Senate seat in 1996, Hagel ran on a right-of-center Newt Gingrich platform. He wanted to eliminate the tax on capital gains and the estate tax, moves which would have benefited rich taxpayers.

He called for abolishing the Departments of Education, Energy, Commerce, and Housing and Urban Development. He wanted a 25 percent cut in the budget of every federal regulatory agency.

In 2005-2006, the leading antiabortion group, the National Right to Life Committee, awarded Hagel a perfect 100 percent rating for his voting record. Among the votes cited: his vote against federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

Obama’s rating from the National Right to Life Committee since he became a senator in 2005 has been zero.

Clash over Supreme Court
Hagel and Obama are also at odds on Supreme Court nominees. Hagel voted for — and Obama against — both of Bush’s nominees, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito.

“I enthusiastically endorse and support Judge Alito's nomination,” he said on the Senate floor on Jan. 26, 2006. “The President has chosen wisely, and I encourage my Senate colleagues to join me in voting for this exceptional nominee.”

That same day, a few hours later, Obama stood up on the floor to denounce Alito.

“In almost every case he consistently sides on behalf of the powerful against the powerless,” he charged.

Such Obama-Hagel conflicts would be hard to ignore, and as we’ve seen with Republicans’ recycling of Hillary Clinton’s arguments against Obama, they would not be forgotten.

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