Sen. Chuck Hagel's (R-Neb.) acknowledgment that he would consider serving as Barack Obama's vice president speaks to his continued alienation from the GOP as well as from his longtime friend John McCain.
'If it would occur, I would have to think about it,' Hagel told the Associated Press late Friday. 'I think anybody, anybody would have to consider it. Doesn't mean you'd do it, doesn't mean you'd accept it, could be too many gaps there, but you'd have to consider it, I mean, it's the only thing you could do.'
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Hagel's willingness to put his name into consideration for the Democratic nomination makes more sense. Iraq has largely turned him into a candidate without a party even though he carries a strong record of supporting most party policies other than the war.
Could Hagel be the pick? Anything is possible in politics but it seems unlikely at the moment. Conventional wisdom pegs Obama as the frontrunner in the race with McCain and, as the favorite, it's not likely the Illinois senator will take a major risk in picking a vice president.
That Hagel could be seriously considered for a Cabinet post in an Obama administration in the same election that Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Ct.) is seen as a potential vice presidential option for McCain speaks to the ways in which the war in Iraq has fundamentally altered the partisan calculations in Washington.
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