No one is saying that restoring America's standing in the world will be easy. And no one on the left expects they will be happy with everything a President Obama will bring to foreign relations. But the globe should breathe a huge sigh of relief in hearing the next President announced his skilled, smart and experienced National Securty team today.
The President-elect first ticked off a number of challenges facing the US today and lo and behold, the next Commander-in-Chief acknowledged that we share the planet with folks who are not Americans:
The common thread linking these challenges is the fundamental reality that in the 21st century, our destiny is shared with the world's. From our markets to our security; from our public health to our climate -we must act with the understanding that, now more than ever, we have a stake in what happens across the globe.
After eight years of cowboy big talk and military-first solutions, the simple admission that the US shares a common future with the rest of the world is a marked change. Equally remarkable is a security team devoid of partisan hacks and neocon ideologues (I'm looking at you Alberto Gonzalez and John Bolton).
The traditional media's lust for controversy (real, imagined or manufactured) has meant that much of the buzz about the National Security team has centered on the Hillary Clinton appointment. Given my intense opposition to Hillary for President during the primary season, I'm surprised at my own hopeful acceptance of her as Secretary of State. I think it could prove to be a brilliant move or a disaster -- such is the way with the Clintons. But one thing's certain, Obama is betting on her to be a great addition to his team and the two of them do share a common goal: success. And by bringing her "in house," their views of what constitutes "success," by necessity, must merge together.
But, for me, the more interesting appointment today is the choice of Susan E. Rice to be ambassador to the United Nations. First, in picking Dr. Rice, one of his closest advisors, Obama is signaling how much importance he places on working cooperatively with other nations. He reportedly also is making the U.N. Ambassador's job a "direct report" to the president and is elevating the post back to being a part of the President's cabinet.
Dr. Rice is no shrinking violet and will be a forceful advocate of strong action, including military force if necessary, to stop genocide like that which has occurred in the Darfur region of Sudan in recent years. Rice, 44, will be the second-youngest ambassador to the United Nations. A Rhodes scholar who earned a doctorate in international relations at Oxford University, she joined President Bill Clinton’s National Security Council staff in 1993 before rising to assistant secretary of state for African affairs at age 32.
The New York Times reported yesterday:
Some colleagues from her Clinton and Obama days said Ms. Rice can be blunt and unafraid to “mix it up,” as one put it, on behalf of issues she cares about. Ms. Rice herself acknowledges a certain impatience at times. Admirers said she is a good listener and able to stand up to strong personalities, including foreign autocrats and militants in volatile regions of the world.
“Susan certainly is tough, and she’s tough in exactly the right way,” said Strobe Talbott, a former deputy secretary of state and now president of the Brookings Institution, where Ms. Rice has worked in recent years. “She’s intellectually tough, she’s tough in her approach to how the policymaking process should work and she will be very effective as a diplomat.”
During her first run at the State Department, Ms. Rice was a point person in responding to Al Qaeda’s 1998 bombing of United States Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. But her most searing experience was visiting Rwanda after the 1994 genocide when she was still on the N.S.C. staff.
As she later described the scene, the hundreds, if not thousands, of decomposing, hacked up bodies that she saw haunted her and fueled a desire to never let it happen again. “I swore to myself that if I ever faced such a crisis again, I would come down on the side of dramatic action, going down in flames if that was required,” she told The Atlantic Monthly in 2001. She eventually became a sharp critic of the Bush administration’s handling of the Darfur killings and last year testified before Congress on behalf of an American-led bombing campaign or naval blockade to force a recalcitrant Sudanese government to stop the slaughter.
Obama also announced two more appointments that herald the end of Bush cronyism. Eric H. Holder Jr., as attorney general, will restore the Department of Justice's integrity and take the lead on closing Gitmo. The selection of Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona to be secretary of homeland security has been widely praised by liberals and conservatives alike and hints at furthering immigration policies that will actually work.
Even the military brass at the Pentagon are quietly cheering a new administration that is less doctrinaire. The Washington Post reported:
"Open and serious debate versus ideological certitude will be a great relief to the military leaders," said retired Maj. Gen. William L. Nash of the Council on Foreign Relations. Senior officers are aware that few in their ranks voiced misgivings over the Iraq war, but they counter that they were not encouraged to do so by the Bush White House or the Pentagon under Donald H. Rumsfeld.
"The joke was that when you leave a meeting, everybody is supposed to drink the Kool-Aid," Nash said. "In the Bush administration, you had to drink the Kool-Aid before you got to go to the meeting."
Great coverage, and thanks for mentioning Dr. Rice. By putting two very powerful and influential people in these positions, Obama has already taken the crucial first steps of undoing the Bush legacy.
Posted by: gWallet | December 02, 2008 at 04:15 AM