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Hagel Takes Few Jabs In His Farewell
Retiring Neb. Senator Pleads Peers For Balanced Power Throughout Government
By TIMBERLY ROSS
Associated Press Writer
OMAHA, Neb. — Retiring Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, one of the most outspoken critics of the Bush administration and the Iraq war, took few political jabs Thursday as he bid his colleagues farewell from the Senate floor.
But the Republican called for government transparency and accountability, warning lawmakers that the three branches of government — executive, legislative and judicial — must remain balanced for the country to thrive.
“Concentration of power is dangerous to a democracy,” said Hagel, whose comments appeared to be a veiled admonition of Bush’s attempts to broaden the scope of the Oval Office.
“We have allowed that drift,” he said, “and I believe it has cost our country dearly.”
Hagel said an imbalance of power limits the government’s transparency and accountability to Americans.
The senator, who’s pushed for bipartisan action in the Senate and was once rumored to be a possible running mate for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, also called on the next Congress to put politics aside for the good of the country.
“Without that bipartisan consensus, we end in the underbrush of political paralysis,” he said.
The 61-year-old Hagel has decided not to seek a third term in the Senate. He flirted with the idea of running for president, but ultimately decided against it.
Hagel is probably best known to voters as a high-profile critic of the Bush administration dating back to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. That criticism evolved into heated discordance in early 2007 when he called Bush’s plan to send an additional 21,500 U.S. troops to Iraq “the most dangerous foreign policy blunder carried out since Vietnam.”
Within a week, Hagel helped craft a resolution with two Democrats, Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan and Joseph Biden of Delaware, opposing the plan. A week after that, Hagel accused the Bush administration of playing “a pingpong game with American lives.”
The rhetoric drew the public ire of Vice President Dick Cheney, who told Newsweek that following Republican icon Ronald Reagan’s mantra not to speak ill of another Republican is sometimes hard to follow “where Chuck Hagel is involved.”
But the Republican called for government transparency and accountability, warning lawmakers that the three branches of government — executive, legislative and judicial — must remain balanced for the country to thrive.
“Concentration of power is dangerous to a democracy,” said Hagel, whose comments appeared to be a veiled admonition of Bush’s attempts to broaden the scope of the Oval Office.
“We have allowed that drift,” he said, “and I believe it has cost our country dearly.”
Hagel said an imbalance of power limits the government’s transparency and accountability to Americans.
The senator, who’s pushed for bipartisan action in the Senate and was once rumored to be a possible running mate for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, also called on the next Congress to put politics aside for the good of the country.
“Without that bipartisan consensus, we end in the underbrush of political paralysis,” he said.
The 61-year-old Hagel has decided not to seek a third term in the Senate. He flirted with the idea of running for president, but ultimately decided against it.
Hagel is probably best known to voters as a high-profile critic of the Bush administration dating back to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. That criticism evolved into heated discordance in early 2007 when he called Bush’s plan to send an additional 21,500 U.S. troops to Iraq “the most dangerous foreign policy blunder carried out since Vietnam.”
Within a week, Hagel helped craft a resolution with two Democrats, Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan and Joseph Biden of Delaware, opposing the plan. A week after that, Hagel accused the Bush administration of playing “a pingpong game with American lives.”
The rhetoric drew the public ire of Vice President Dick Cheney, who told Newsweek that following Republican icon Ronald Reagan’s mantra not to speak ill of another Republican is sometimes hard to follow “where Chuck Hagel is involved.”
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