Summary
President-elect Obama's selection of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as his secretary of state came as no surprise. After all, both camps were publicly wrestling for weeks in negotiations over what to do about everything from her husband's secret fundraisers to key placements of her staff. I often found myself smirking at how much better President Bush was at interacting with the incoming administration than the Clintons.
The last time I checked, a cabinet official was put in place to execute the will of the chief executive - in this case, the ambassador-in-chief. If Clinton understood the role before it was offered to her, then why was any of this horse-trading necessary? I didn't hear any reports of Bill Richardson demanding the incoming president would attend all of the job fairs he plans to hold across the nation to get Americans back to work. That's because he didn't. And the larger lesson here is a cabinet position is never about one individual. As tempting as it is for a new president to elevate high-profile figures in his ranks, too often personalities and egos get in the way. When you put ambition before ideas, the whole country loses.Stewardship is the operative word here. Secretary Clinton will have to run a diplomatic corps that numbers in the tens of thousands throughout the world. That work can be both tedious and mind-numbing. Just ask Colin Powell. While globe-trotting is certainly the most glamorous aspect of her job, it's not the most important. This position is bureaucracy defined. I don't see Clinton embracing those elements wholeheartedly. And you definitely can't hand those "mundane" tasks off to subordinates.If Clinton understood the role before it was offered to her, then why was any of this horse-trading necessary? I didn't hear any reports of Bill Richardson demanding the incoming president would attend all of the job fairs he plans to hold across the nation to get Americans back to work. It was the same voice that criticized then-candidate Obama on multiple foreign policy issues, not to mention her hawkish support of the war.See the full content of this document
Extract
The Beginning of an Executive Headache
President-elect Obama's selection of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as his secretary of state came as no surprise. After all, both camps were publicly wrestling for weeks in negotiations over what to do about everything from her husband's secret fundraiser...
See the full content of this document
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