Former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., did such a poor job in making the case that he should be Defense Secretary that even Robert Gibbs, Obama’s first press secretary,  found it “disconcerting.”

“The disconcerting thing obviously that, for anybody to watch, it was he seemed unimpressive and unprepared on the questions that quite frankly he knew was coming,” Gibbs said today on Meet the Press while discussing Hagel’s appearance before the Senate on Thursday.

Gibbs still supports Hagel, though. “[W]e get into all of these kerfuffles about one hearing or a few answers,” he said. “Chuck Hagel is an infantryman who’s had to execute the orders of the secretary of defense and the commander-in-chief and understands what those people go through and he’s going to be a good secretary of defense.”