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Buzz Cut: Obama finds midterm scapegoat in Hagel Warren in Tel Aviv with Bibi on Iran deadline day Obama: Voters want new car smell in candidate, but Hillary would be great Four Pinocchios for Obama immigration claims Your selfie stick is jamming my signal

OBAMA FINDS MIDTERM SCAPEGOAT IN HAGELIn another strong sign of President Obamas hard tack left in the wake of a midterm drubbing, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is heading for the exits. First reported by the NYT, the cashiering of the Pentagon boss comes after the two men mutually agreed that it was time for the highest profile Republican in Obamas cabinet to go. But given the fact that the White House was the one pushing out the story, it seems more likely that the president had grown tired of the ongoing pressure from Hagel and members of the top brass to take a more aggressive stance on national security threats abroad. The conflict went public back in August when Hagel openly contradicted White House talking points on the threat posed by Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria. While Obama succumbed to the pressure, Hagels ouster shows the president seeking to reassert control over his foundering foreign policy.

[Who will replace? - NYT: At the top of the list are Michele Flournoy, the former undersecretary of defense; Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island and a former officer with the Armys 82nd Airborne; and Ashton Carter, a former deputy secretary of defense.]

Fault finding - Democrats blame disaffection among base voters for the partys historic defeat earlier this month. And, to be sure, there has not been much for liberals to cheer in Obamas foreign policy of late. Not only has the president begrudgingly escalated the war against Islamists, the administration has quietly accepted defeat in the presidents bid to get all fighting forces out of Afghanistan. The endless war foreign policy combined with stunning revelations about Obamas expansion of domestic surveillance sent the presidents approval ratings on national security once stratospheric after the killing of Usama bin Laden to a series of new lows. And among no group was the decline more evident than with Democrats. Given the centrality of Obamas dovish foreign policy to the building of his coalition, even the reluctant, half-hearted hawkishness of 2014 might be seen as a key culprit by Democrats in the partys losses.

[The good times - Obama often touted his friendship with Hagel as evidence of bipartisan bent, with the right kind of Republican.]

That was then - Hagel, who became a hero to Democrats for his relentless criticism of fellow Republican President George W. Bush during the Iraq war, apparently still proved too hawkish for the president and his supporters. That Hagels team was recently expressing confidence that he would serve through the end of the presidents term suggests that this reordering came as something of a surprise. Given the harsh critiques of Obamas other top foreign policy advisers, Hagels replacement will be a fraught business. And with the ongoing struggles of Obamas foreign policy, the debate could further divide Democrats on the most volatile issue for the party and its hawkish 2016 frontrunner.

IRAN NUKE TALKS MISS DEADLINEAP: Nuclear negotiators have failed to meet a Monday deadline for a deal that would ease international concerns about Irans atomic program and are poised to extend the negotiations for a comprehensive agreement until July 2015, diplomats said. Under the terms of limited agreements reached after a frenetic six days of talks in Vienna, a political accord is to be completed by March 1, with final details contained in annexes to be sealed by July 1, the diplomats said.British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said it was not possible to meet the deadline due to wide gaps on well-known points of contention, including levels of uranium enrichment and the number of centrifuges Iran would be allowed to operate.

[Jerusalem Post: Israel has issued a stark, public warning to its allies with a clear argument: Current proposals guarantee the perpetuation of a crisis, backing Israel into a corner from which military force against Iran provides the only logical exit.]

Warren in Tel Aviv with Bibi on deadline day - Jerusalem Post: While it is two full years before the 2016 US presidential race, the parade of possible candidates to Israel began Monday afternoon with a meeting by Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Warren, whose name has been mentioned as a possible challenger to Hillary Clinton for the democratic nomination, arrived Saturday in Tel Aviv, and will also visit Ramallah and Amman. This is the first trip abroad for the senator, elected in 2012 and who has so-far concentrated largely on US domestic issues.

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Obama finds midterm scapegoat in Hagel