Obama gambles on Hagel

CRUCIAL appointments to Barack Obama's new cabinet present him with an untimely and difficult balancing act. Amid controversy over the perceived "anti-Israel, pro-Iran" bias of Chuck Hagel, the President's choice to be the new US defence secretary, Mr Obama has nominated his chief of staff, Jacob Lew, a prominent orthodox Jew, as Treasury secretary. The move has significance beyond the responsibility Mr Lew will have in managing US finances at a time of economic crisis.

Given his orthodoxy, Mr Lew won't travel by car, use electricity or work his mobile phone between sundown on Fridays and Saturdays. As a Clinton administration official, he declined a presidential call on a Saturday. His nomination won praise from Jewish leaders and Mr Obama will seek to use Mr Lew's close Israeli contacts to offset damaging questions about Mr Hagel.

Mr Hagel scathingly criticised "the Jewish lobby", opposed the Iraq war and opposed sanctions on Iran. Critics fear he has no ticker for a military confrontation with Tehran and that he favours engagement with Hamas and Hezbollah. He is said to back a speedier drawdown of US troops from Afghanistan, and to be unenthusiastic about retaining residual forces. He also favours swingeing budget cuts that could impact on Washington's Asia pivot. He has won high praise from The New York Times- added reason for US senators to grill him closely.

Mr Lew does not have the extensive contacts on Wall Street and in financial markets that would have been useful but he has vast Capitol Hill experience dating back to the time he worked for legendary Speaker Tip O'Neill. He needs to be well-equipped to take on the looming battle with Republicans over the $US16.4 trillion debt ceiling.

John Brennan, nominated to be CIA director, is a veteran spy who has won kudos as the architect of the US drone strategy to attack terrorist targets. John Kerry has wide foreign policy experience and should be an able secretary of state. The appointment of Cecilia Munoz, with close ties to the Catholic Church, as domestic policy tsar is aimed at easing tensions over abortion. But unless Mr Obama deals well with questions about Mr Hagel, his new term will be off to a bad start. A US defence secretary perceived, rightly or wrongly, as antagonistic towards Israel and soft on Iran would be a disaster when the crisis over Tehran's nuclear ambitions may be approaching its climax.