Republican senators failed to a land a single stinging punch on the chin of President Barack Obama's hand-picked defense secretary nominee last week.
But the surprising thing was they didn't even try.
Why bother? That was the game plan as explained to reporters after Ash Carter's confirmation hearing by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz.
McCain and other Republicans acknowledged they could have turned the high-profile hearing into a referendum on Obama's foreign policy and national security decisions.
And though some seem to have forgotten their own quotes, several predicted just that in the two-month run-up to the hearing.
McCain opted to focus on Carter, his qualifications and experience, and the major threats facing the country.
That's because before Carter even sat down at the witness table, McCain had decided this: "I'm confident that he has no influence whatsoever" over the administration's policies.
Citing frustrations expressed by two prior Obama defense secretaries — Robert Gates and Leon Panetta — McCain said the West Wing "micromanages" and dominates everything defense and foreign policy.
"He articulated goals, not policy," McCain said of Carter's testimony before turning his ire at the president. "There is no policy. So I couldn't expect him to articulate one."
And that ire is abundant — even for John McCain.
John T. Bennett
Photo Credit: Mike Morones
"I can't expect [Carter] to give an answer because there isn't one," McCain said. "Because there's no strategy."
There were few major takeaways from Carter's time in the hot seat. But one was that Obama's relationship with Senate Republicans has hit yet another low point: They have so little confidence in the commander in chief that they passed up an opportunity to criticize him with the television cameras and eight large tables of reporters hanging on their every word.
Back to Carter, who appears headed to a landslide confirmation vote on the Senate floor.
Reporters asked McCain what the incoming defense secretary can accomplish if he's right about the White House's death grip on policy decisions.
"He will manage the Pentagon, and he will do a good job at it," McCain said. "He has significant experience."
That's no simple task, and Carter has spoken repeatedly of the need to speed up the acquisition system. But that job description already exists: deputy defense secretary. And Carter already has been, as they say in the Building, DepSecDef.
Multiple national security insiders have told me for half a decade that Carter has been preparing his entire adult life to be defense secretary.
But will he be given the latitude to play a major role, to show that his time training on the job under several respected defense secretaries readied him to personally advise the commander in chief?
If not, that means McCain's assessment will be proven correct. And for Carter, whose resumé suggests he's thoroughly qualified, that's a low bar.
