Defining the Sides

It was a good fight to resist Chuck Hagel's nomination to be Secretary of Defense (tip to Instapundit).

In the end, the fight denied President Obama the easy ability to blame Republicans for what a nominally Republican Secretary of Defense does to the department. Near-unanimous Republican opposition makes that clear.

That won't stop the president from gutting defense in the theory that the tide of war is receding, but clarity on blame is at least something.