During the Democratic primaries, the Clinton campaign attracted more familiar Democratic faces from the foreign-policy community -- the people derided by the liberal blogosphere as self-styled Very Serious People -- who tended to be less progressive than their counterparts in the Obama campaign. The foreign-policy wing of the Obama campaign, during the primaries, considered itself as a force for redressing the timidity of the traditional Democratic foreign-policy community that acquiesced to disasters like the Iraq war.Uhm, does this mean no return for Samantha Power? Damn, I'm a ditz. A 6'4 big black ditz...
« Drugs, jewels and Versace, writers need therapy | Main | Maybe because of that Lieberman post... » And so it's official21 Nov 2008 04:17 pm
She accepts. I'm nowhere near qualified to tell you what all this means. But Spencer is:
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"...two confidants said" doesn't make it official.
I think I read that Powers would be Ambassador of the U.N.--I have no links. I click on too many during the day.
Did you read about the Long Island school that changed its name to Barack Obama elementary?
Yeah saw that. Crazy times...
Some Obama loyalists pointed to a 2007 memo written by Harvard’s Samantha Power — a former leading Obama adviser who resigned from the campaign after making an untoward remark about Clinton — that summarized the Obama campaign’s ideological meta-critique of many of the people who might staff a Clinton-run State Dept. Titled “Conventional Wisdom vs. the Change We Need,” the campaign released Power’s memo to the press after the Clinton campaign labeled Obama naive for proposing negotiations with dictators without preconditions; for ruling out the use of nuclear weapons on terrorist training camps; and for proposing highly-conditioned military strikes in Pakistan against senior Al Qaeda operatives.
“It was Washington’s conventional wisdom that led us into the worst strategic blunder in the history of U.S. foreign policy,” writes Power, who declined to speak for this story. “The rush to invade Iraq was a position advocated by not only the Bush Administration, but also by editorial pages, the foreign policy establishment of both parties, and majorities in both houses of Congress. Those who opposed the war were often labeled weak, inexperienced and even naïve.”
Some in the Obama camp are left wondering whether picking Clinton as secretary of state represents an acquiescence to such conventional wisdom. “That memo was emblematic in many ways of the difference between the two groups,” said a Democratic foreign-policy expert and Obama loyalist. Asked about the ideological implications of the difference, the expert said, “The early Obama supporters were generally much more opposed to Iraq and you can draw out assumptions from there.”
Yet those assumptions are not entirely clear cut. Susan Rice opposed the Iraq war, but she was still a member in good standing of the traditional Washington foreign-policy community, ensconced at the ultra-establishment Brookings Institution. Her Brookings colleague, Lee Feinstein, signed on with the Clinton team and often criticized Obama, but he also wrote in favor of “unconditional negotiations with Iran” even before Obama entered the race.
Richard Holbrooke, a longtime progressive bete noir — and assistant secretary of state under Bill Clinton — was an Iraq war supporter, but also been a leading voice with the Campaign to Ban Torture, a bipartisan pressure group devoted to rolling back Bush’s interrogation policies. And Clinton’s campaign gained the ardent support of liberal heroes like Gen. Wesley Clark and retired Amb. Joe Wilson, both of whom opposed the Iraq war.
The Democratic official noted Obama’s stated intrigue with presidential scholar Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book “Team of Rivals,” which documented the ultimately-constructive fissures in Abraham Lincoln’s cabinet, but rejected the comparison.
“The situation is fundamentally different today than in Lincoln’s time,” the official said. “The agencies are much more vast, so the people under the secretary, who aren’t directly controllable by the president, are a much bigger part of the equation these days. And when they are part of a group like the Clinton folks, it’s a real issue. Besides, even the Lincoln cabinet was much more dysfunctional than Goodwin’s book portrayed.”
Is it wrong that this just gets a *shrug* from me?
yummy, and a kissinger & ass. alumni as treasury secretary, a cherry on top.
i mean, who could forget the brilliance and competency of the great viceroy l. paul bremer.
the american establishment at its best
VIA TPM:
Hillary spokesperson Philippe Reines says the reports that Hillary has decided to accept the Secretary of State gig are "premature."
Asked for comment on the stories, Reines emails me this:
"We're still in discussions, which are very much on track. Any reports beyond that are premature."
It's still possible that it's true that she's told confidants that she'll accept the gig and that this statement refers to the question of whether she and Obama have shaken hands on it. But perhaps a bit of caution is in order.
Late Update: Jake Tapper reports that after deciding against taking the gig...
On Thursday, many people in Obama's world reached out to Clinton and convinced her to take the job.
By Thursday night, she had conveyed to President-elect Obama that she was interested in the job. In other words, she essentially accepted his offer.
Details are still being worked out, but everything is on track for Clinton's nomination for the job to be announced after Thanksgiving, along with other members of the Obama national security team.
That would square with the statement from Hillary's spokesperson, as well as the Obama camp's claim that the deal is "on track." She's decided to take the gig, but she and Obama haven't shaken hands on the particulars.
TNC,
My friends and I started a website called www.bigblackditz.com. Would you like to be on it?
I find your views intriguing and wish to subscribe to your newsletter...
Well just go to the site and sign up. We got the Biggest Blackest Ditz on the Web!! You won't find Black Ditz like this anywhere else!!
Sorry. I'll stop. Its Friday, and I got that itch. Feeling a little goofy.
Aww, I liked Samantha Power! But I like Caroline Kennedy even more. Either one as ambassador would be good.
Having a vicious war monger like Hillary Clinton as Sec. of State is a truly frightening thought.
Okay, I'm going to jump straight over the question of whether it's true, right over what I might think about it, to.... Okay, now we have an open Senate seat from New York.
Eliot Spitzer!
Eliot Spitzer!
Eliot Spitzer!
I know. He fucked up. He was punished, he lost his job. But he's too good to throw away.
After serving in two administrations including a stint on the Nat'l. Security Council staff, believe me the President gets exactly the type of administration he (or she) wants. If Obama's campaign is any indication, HE will run his foreign and domestic policy, first gathering the information and opinion he needs and anyone who who doesn't abide by those decisions and execute his policies, will be quietly shown the door (figuratively or literally)--including Hilary Clinton. Tho' not a huge Clinton fan, I respect her intellect and abilities (tho' not her managerial skills, but with the right people in place that should not be a big problem) but most importantly if this is who Obama wants, I respect that even more. A U.S. senator (GOP) I worked for back in '80's always said that absent some kind of malfeasance, give the President what he wants, because if the appointment goes south, it's the President who will pay the biggest price.
Samantha Powers - National Security Advisor.
See?
That wasn't so hard.
Powers is SOOO not gone.
She and Clinton would both work for The President.
Period.
Samantha Powers will definitely be back. Perhaps not at State under Clinton (after calling her a "monster" and all - which WAS an apt description of HRC at the time) but she will be in the administration. I'd bank on it. She's too intelligent, and her views too important and too influential on Obama's thought track re: foreign policy to be left out of his administration. She won't be National Security Advisor, but she will probably be one of the deputies, along with Susan Rice.
the new soft, cuddly empire
this time we call it "humanitarian intervention"
as always, we really do have good intentions
a kinder, gentler america
Powers should have some role. Advisory might be better than managerial, though. NSA like Rikyrah says? Or a Jarrett-equivalent for FP?
Hillary Clinton as Secy oF State is a profound and heartbreaking tragedy. She's simply not qualified for the job and can't be trusted. Her entourage of sycophants will never be loyal to Obama.
Equally troubling is Janet Napolitano as Homeland Security Secy. She was the Democrat with the best chance of defeating John McCain. Now McCain is virtually guaranteed re-election to the Senate. McCain ran a red-baiting, fear-mongering campaign against Obama. Obama is crazy to give McCain a pass by removing the opponent best positioned to defeat him.
JK,
Napolitano could have said no - I'm going to run for The Senate. Nobody forced someone who had a job to say yes.
Samantha Power is ok. I don't get the hype though. Does the Obama team has a crisis of confidence in the foreign policy arena? There are so many other excellent people.
I am waiting for their magical mystery reason for picking Clinton, it better be good...
- Why no link to Spencer's post?
- Sam Power may in fact be gone, and with respect to Nina's post: The "hype" of Sam Power is best defined by, "A Problem From Hell" (Pulitzer Prize)
- Now while I will say I have a visceral reaction to this pick, Obama has an interesting way of turning insiders into change agents-- Axelrod, Gibbs, Daschle are fine examples. He seems to be hell bent on bringing in these old Washington heads and defining the mission his own way. So while I have a strong aversion to Hillary, I'm curious what type of utility Obama sees.
"- Why no link to Spencer's post?"
I provided the link about 24 hours ago, but the filter caught it and its in limbo.
Its terrible netiquette for TNC not to link to Spencer's post.
Big black whaa?! Hey, this is a family blog!!
BTW I doubt Power is picked for NSA.
That's looking Susan Rice-like to me...