Obama admires Chuck Hagel's unconventional foreign policy ideas

President Obama announced that he is nominating former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., – whom he hailed as a man willing to defy “conventional wisdom” in order to pursue the best interests of the United States and American troops — to replace Leon Panetta as Secretary of Defense.

“Chuck Hagel is the leader that our troops deserve,” Obama said, recalling Hagel’s service in Vietnam, where he was himself wounded and also rescued his brother after his brother was wounded. “Chuck knows that war is not an abstraction. He understands that he is sending out Americans to fight and bleed in the dirt and mud — that’s something we only do when it is absolutely necessary.”