Finally the speculation can stop. Hillary Clinton is officially the appointee of the secretary of state post. Robert Gates will officially stay on as secretary of defense and James Jones a former NATO commander under current president Bush. A lesser known though equally cool is the appointee of Susan Rice to ambassador to the UN. Susan Rice has been at Obama's side since day one, in fact she is the only on of the appointees announced today that was! Sen Clinton was his arch-nemisis. James Jones supported John McCain and Robert Gates was appointed by president Bush. And before you think that it's president Bush doing the appointing, remember Robert said YES.
I do not have a problem with these picks. They really do seems like a nice counterweight to his views but will not overpower him. And of course his vice-president elect was chairman of the senate foriegn relations committee, so he is good on foriegn policy. You also can't say he is appeasing Hillary supporters anymore either. Although I do wonder what happened to Senators Sam Nunn, Dick Lugar, and John Kerry in all this? Guess they just didn't make the cut.
5 comments:
Hilary Clinton doesnt have anymore foreign diplomatic experience than Obama himself. This seems like a slight problem to me. Of course, that can be overcome and doesnt mean she will be a bad S. State. The problem with her husband seems more troubling. although he says he'll make concessions, I feel that, in application, this will be more difficult than Obama imagines and could have detrimental effects on Hilary's diplomatic successs.
other than that, I think its great that he is trying to bring together experts regardless of past affiliation and policy ideas so that we can have a active and productive dicussion (not groupthink) about the important issues we face.
Oh, and I dotn know about John Kerry, but Senators Nunn and Lugar are both publically "not interested" in cabinet positions. Nunn, for one, is retired from geovernment.
Well, Hilary Clinton may not have all that much more experience, but she showed lots of promise in terms of diplomatic foreign policy. Since the State Department is intended to take the lead on diplomacy, i think it might not be a bad choice.
However, given the need for the US to improve on its foreign policy in terms of diplomacy, maybe a more experienced choice would have been better.
Clinton also has name recognition. This makes it easier for Obama to pass on some trips to capitals and send a well known sec of state with much clout.
And don't forget, Syed, his own vice president was chairman of the senate foreign relations committee. and has almost as much time as john mccain in the senate. how's that for experience, but i understand what you mean. i think at the end of the day we will be good on foreign policy.
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