The afternoon session of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s hearings on the confirmation of Robert Gates was as polite and civil, if less attended, than the morning gathering. The Democrats generosity to the nominee was captured by Florida Senator Bill Nelson. “I think you’re going to be a good secretary,” the Democrat said, with only two other senators on the dais and not a few empty chairs in the audience. “You’re doing this for all the right reasons,” Nelson continued. Moving into his questions, the senator then asked how Gates could repair the relationship between the executive and legislative branch. The nominee replied that he hadn’t had time to devise any specific plans regarding how to mend fences on the Hill, but recalled his approach from serving on a variety of corporate boards. “It’s the tone at the top” that matters, Gates said, perhaps not unwittingly drawing a contrast with his predecessor. Nelson must have liked what he heard because he then casually asked Gates if he wanted to ”opine on strategy and troop levels [now] or wait until you get in?” Gates, not surprisingly, chose the latter.

So have Democrats turned over a new leaf post-election day and post-Rumsfeld, or was this just senatorial courtesy on display? “Gates is a good choice,” observed Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) in an interview as he departed the hearing room. “The election is over and for the time being Democrats don’t want to be perceived as denying the president a capable nominee for Secretary of Defense.” Particularly, Sessions added, after their “long-term campaign to remove Rumsfeld.”