"Hagel had chafed at what Clemons calls the "degraded" structural discipline of the White House national security team under National Security Adviser Susan Rice. But at the same time, Hagel might have made his own mistakes by not "playing the public game," Clemons said.
In the end, Clemons concluded, Hagel became the most obvious first casualty as the White House sought a "reset" on foreign policy heading into its final two years.
"I knew at least from his side that there was substantial frustration with the national security decision-making structure," Clemons said. But he added that it "would be easy and probably wrong" to view Hagel's resignation as the result of a clash of personalities.
"I think Hagel is looked at as the weak link publicly. The president has received enormous criticism recently in the press for what are perceived to be a lot of mistakes," Clemons said. Hagel "got undermined and seen publicly as the weak link, and so if you're going to blame someone and press reset on what Obama's team needs to look like, then Hagel was a natural one to go."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/steve-clemons-chuck-hagel-resignation
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