Two Thumbs Up For Obama's Pick For Army Secretary

Here’s at least one presidential appointment that Republicans can cross off their worry list: Obama’s pick of Rep. John McHugh (R-NY) as Secretary of the Army, announced on Tuesday. McHugh is a strong, wise choice for the post—even if it means there will now be more Republicans in the Obama administration (5) than in the entire New York congressional delegation (2).

Matthew Yglesias is right to point out that post-census redistricting in 2010 will eliminate at least one of New York's 29 seats, possibly more. Like all majorities, the Democrats would guarantee that their own party reaps the benefits.

But Republicans should not get too anxious. McHugh's district, NY-23, is not NY-20. Unlike many of his upstate colleagues, McHugh easily survived the upstate Democratic sweeps of '06 and '08. Since arriving to Congress in 1992, he won reelection with heavy percentages each time, including in our tougher recent years: 70.7% in 2004, 63.1% in 2006, and 65.3% in 2008. Back in 2002, the Democrats didn't even put up a challenger for the seat. Now, however, they'll definitely seek to squeeze out another upstate upset since Obama actually won NY-23 last fall by two more points than he did in NY-20.

Politico and others report that Robert Taub, McHugh's chief of staff, "is likely to be an early frontrunner for the Republican nomination." If so, he’ll definitely get it. I can’t really see NY state senator Joseph Griffo, another interested candidate, beating a McHugh-backed Taub in a primary.

Better we have someone like McHugh as Army secretary: In Congress he’s been a staunch defender of the war on terror and an advocate for a muscular foreign policy. When he spoke at a recent conference for the newly formed Foreign Policy Initiative, he demonstrated a very strong command of the details of the situation in Afghanistan and articulated his support for Obama's troop surge to save the country. A memorable moment came when McHugh told the audience:

By recognizing that we have to rebuild both our military and civilian capabilities and capacities both in Pakistan and Afghanistan, by recognizing we have to reengage our ISAF and NATO partners in hopefully more productive ways and on and on and on, I can only say to the President: Sounds good to me, boss.

Well, now McHugh will really be calling Obama “boss.” And unlike another recent Obama nominee I can think of, there is virtually nothing controversial about McHugh. He'll make a very good Army Secretary.

As for the two likely Democratic challengers to McHugh’s New York seat -- state senators Darrel Aubertine and David Valesky -- both won their current seats by thin margins in hotly contested races. A victory by either one of them in the special election would not be much appreciated by the state Senate Democratic caucus. As The Albany Times Union put it:

A run by either Senate Democrat, however, could prove risky for Senate Democrats, who currently control the chamber by a narrow 32-to-30 margin. The loss of a single seat to the GOP would result in an evenly split chamber -- with no sitting lieutenant governor to break a tie.

Nevertheless, Republicans shouldn’t be focusing on the state legislature. They should be focused on retaining John McHugh's seat in Congress. Like the race in NY-20 just a couple months ago, it’s theirs to lose.