So Long, Chuck

President Obama will announce the resignation of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Monday in the first high-profile personnel move since Democrats suffered significant losses in this month's midterm elections.

[...]

A senior administration official praised Hagel, the only Republican in Obama's Cabinet, as "a steady hand, guiding our military through this transition, and helping us respond to challenges from [the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria] to Ebola."

  The Hill

Yeah, so why’s he being dumped?

The New York Times, which first reported Hagel's departure, suggested the Defense secretary was being forced out over concerns over his ability to lead the campaign against ISIS.

We have had a defense secretary who is unable to lead a campaign?

An administration official told the Times that “the next couple of years will demand a different kind of focus" than he was able to provide. Hagel was originally expected to focus primarily on winding down the Afghanistan War and cuts to the Pentagon's budget under sequestration.

Apparently, we've had a defense secretary who was only capable of “winding down”, not “winding up”. Why was he ever put in charge of defense in the first place?

Last month, CNN reported that Hagel wrote a memo to national security adviser Susan Rice sharply critical of the White House’s strategy on Syria.

That couldn't have helped his cause.

His removal appears to be an effort by the White House to show that it is sensitive to critics who have pointed to stumbles in the government’s early response to several national security issues, including the Ebola crisis and the threat posed by the Islamic State.

  NYT

Seriously? Chuck should have stopped Ebola at the border?

He raised the ire of the White House in August as the administration was ramping up its strategy to fight the Islamic State, directly contradicting the president, who months before had likened the Sunni militant group to a junior varsity basketball squad. Mr. Hagel, facing reporters in his now-familiar role next to General Dempsey, called the Islamic State an “imminent threat to every interest we have,” adding, “This is beyond anything that we’ve seen.” White House officials later said they viewed those comments as unhelpful.

A junior varsity basketball squad…and yet now they tell us ISIS is the most evil thing on the planet (except for brief moments when Khorasan takes that role). So maybe Mr. Hagel embarrassed Mr. Obama, who claimed he could take ISIS on a court any day. And maybe by giving back 20% of his salary when Obama furloughed federal workers and only gave up 5% of his own.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.