Hilary Clinton Team Player Or Leader?

Posted on 22 September 2009 by Stenberg-Tendys W.L. in Uncategorized

Looking every bit her 61 years of age, Hilary Rodham Clinton is the first politician to hold the office of Secretary of State, in six decades. All others have filled the position from fields of foreign policy or the military.

According to a report by Glenn Kessler, of the Washington Post, “Clinton is the consummate team player and often the best-briefed, most prepared person in the room. President Obama’s aides say he values her advice and appreciates her dedication.”

However, it appears there are times when the desire to lead and the need to function effectively within the Obama administration, create tension in Clinton. She is fully aware she is not a diplomat, but her skills as a politician and her contacts in Congress and elsewhere, have helped her attract accomplished talents and win substantial increases in funding for the State Department, in a time of soaring deficits.

Clinton is “tough-minded,” said Gates, a Republican and holdover from the Bush administration. “Her general approach on issues is that anytime we make a concession on something, that we get something for it.”

Clinton, is largely invisible on the big issues that dominate the foreign policy agenda, including the war in Afghanistan, attempting to engage Iran and efforts to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but Clinton and her aides say she is deeply involved in policy making.

Clinton said her years in the White House, where she saw conflict among Bill Clinton’s advisers spill out into the open, have influenced how she operates. “You can disagree with the president, you can argue for different policies, but at the end of the day you have to be part of a team that is there to serve the country and the president who the country elected”.

Clinton has earned the most headlines for saying things that were either ahead of their time or lacked diplomatic nuance. She likened North Korea to an unruly child and said it was “implausible if not impossible” to believe the country would return to disarmament talks. She accused Pakistan of “abdicating to the Taliban.” She said human rights concerns in China could not interfere with efforts to reach a deal on climate change.

“I consider myself the president’s chief foreign policy adviser, the country’s chief diplomat and the State Department’s chief executive,” Clinton said in an interview this week”. That’s how I see my role, and I’m working in all three of those areas.”

In reference to Clinton’s proclivity for throwing verbal bombs, “When Condi spoke, you knew that was policy,” said one senior State Department official, referring to, Condoleeza Rice. “When this secretary speaks, you don’t really know.”

Clinton said she loves being secretary of state, but conceded, “It is a really hard job 24-7 job,” and “I feel the weight of it pretty significantly.”

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