Keukasmallies Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 If VP Joe Biden is making major foreign policy speeches to the world about relations with Russia, Iran, et. al., and describing the international relations policy aims of the Obama administration; where is the woman who was appointed Secretary of State? You remember, the woman that carpetbagged her way into NYS for a cameo appearance as Senator on her way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The one where, "a funny thing happened on her way to the White House." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finknottle Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 If VP Joe Biden is making major foreign policy speeches to the world about relations with Russia, Iran, et. al., and describing the international relations policy aims of the Obama administration; where is the woman who was appointed Secretary of State? You remember, the woman that carpetbagged her way into NYS for a cameo appearance as Senator on her way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The one where, "a funny thing happened on her way to the White House." Somebody woke up with his panties in a bunch! Unlike Biden, she actually has some work to do running a Department. I'm guessing she is getting administrative briefings 24/7 until she heads off on her trip to East Asia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsNYC Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 She's lying low while all the people that abandoned her for Obama early on (Caroline Kennedy, Tom Daschle, Bill Richardson) are all making fools of themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keukasmallies Posted February 8, 2009 Author Share Posted February 8, 2009 Wow, Hill'ry is running a department! Maybe she will chair a committee, too, eh? I notice she heads to SE Asia where things are relatively calm while George Mitchell goes off to the Middle East. I wonder what the message is there, huh? Maybe she's running a reprise of her famous "listening tour" she scammed NYS with a number of years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PearlHowardman Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Wow, Hill'ry is running a department! Maybe she will chair a committee, too, eh? I notice she heads to SE Asia where things are relatively calm while George Mitchell goes off to the Middle East. I wonder what the message is there, huh? Maybe she's running a reprise of her famous "listening tour" she scammed NYS with a number of years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finknottle Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Wow, Hill'ry is running a department! Maybe she will chair a committee, too, eh? I notice she heads to SE Asia where things are relatively calm while George Mitchell goes off to the Middle East. I wonder what the message is there, huh? Maybe she's running a reprise of her famous "listening tour" she scammed NYS with a number of years ago. The SecState *does* have work to do that goes far beyond visits and speeches. Her tour of East Asia is as much about visiting the embassies as it is visiting the countries. SecState is a management position, responsible for the smooth running of the embassies abroad, the bureau's here, and the ad hoc diplomatic missions. Indeed, visits for anything but courtesy calls generally do more harm than good, as they diminish the authority of the proper pointman, the Ambassador. It's kind of like a CEO - the last thing you want is for them to insert themselves into contract negotiations with other companies and making market-roiling speeches. Her time right now should be being spent getting briefings on what the issues and politics are with each of the pieces of DOS so that she can keep the cats herded. This is not the kneee-jerk defense of Clinton it may appear - she will thrive or suck as fate dictates. It is merely to point out that if she is doing her job, she *should* have a low profile right now. By way of comparison, I suggest you look at the first year of Colin Powell's tenure. His was pretty quiet, and he rarely traveled. Most of the rhetoric on foreign policy was coming out of Bolton and elsewhere in the Administration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PastaJoe Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Wow, Hill'ry is running a department! Maybe she will chair a committee, too, eh? I notice she heads to SE Asia where things are relatively calm while George Mitchell goes off to the Middle East. I wonder what the message is there, huh? Maybe she's running a reprise of her famous "listening tour" she scammed NYS with a number of years ago. I would say that SE Asia is a very important area. She's going to China, Japan, South Korea, and Indonesia. China and Japan are closely tied to our economy, the issue of North Korea's nuclear ambitions still have to be resolved, and Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population. Obama is multitasking foreign policy with Biden working Europe and Russia, Mitchell in the Middle East, Holbrooke in Afganistan/Pakistan, and Clinton in Asia. There are too many international issues that were left unresolved for just one person to single task. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keukasmallies Posted February 9, 2009 Author Share Posted February 9, 2009 At the risk of sounding like the Pasta Joe's on this board, I think the best course of action is to stop posting anything to do w/ Hill'ry. She is a slime ball of the first order, self-aggrandizing to the nth degree and an all around power slut. Vaya con Dios Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finknottle Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Obama is multitasking foreign policy with Biden working Europe and Russia, Mitchell in the Middle East, Holbrooke in Afganistan/Pakistan, and Clinton in Asia. There are too many international issues that were left unresolved for just one person to single task. This is a People Magazine view of how diplomacy works. Clinton is first and foremost visiting our Embassies for internal discussions. Her calls on the countries is intended to be a signal that East Asia is important to us - nothing more. I will bet my last dollar that she will not be engaging in any kind of negotiations. The relationship with China is run out of the embassy in Beijing, period, and so on. When China wants something, they talk to the Ambassador, not SecState. The Secretary of State is *not* an Ambassador. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim in Anchorage Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 At the risk of sounding like the Pasta Joe's on this board, I think the best course of action is to stop posting anything to do w/ Hill'ry. She is a slime ball of the first order, self-aggrandizing to the nth degree and an all around power slut. Vaya con Dios Perfect Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PastaJoe Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 At the risk of sounding like the Pasta Joe's on this board, I think the best course of action is to stop posting anything to do w/ Hill'ry. She is a slime ball of the first order, self-aggrandizing to the nth degree and an all around power slut. Vaya con Dios Nobody was talking about her until you started this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YellowLinesandArmadillos Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Perfect It does take a village to make an idiot and it seems like we have quite a village here.... cause this post is quite idiotic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keukasmallies Posted February 10, 2009 Author Share Posted February 10, 2009 So Hill'ry is making door calls throughout the Far East while others hit the hot spots? Is this the best use of those high levels of foreign policy skills she touted during the primaries, that experience bank gathered throughout her years in the field serving as First Lady, her military prowess honed dodging incoming shells with her daughter at her side at foreign airfields under seige? finknottle, do you seriously believe that some ambassador who "paid" for the position through political contributions is the fulcrum of our policies in China? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wacka Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 She'll be sure to stop in Indonesia to visit her old friend Riaddy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckeyemike Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 This is the first real job Hillary has had since her early years at the Rose Law Firm. We'll see whether or not she's up to it. Hillary Clinton could very well be an excellent Secretary of State...or she could crash and fail miserably. I don't think there's much middle ground here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keukasmallies Posted February 10, 2009 Author Share Posted February 10, 2009 Obama will rue the day he entered into his Faustian deal with Hill'ry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finknottle Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 So Hill'ry is making door calls throughout the Far East while others hit the hot spots? Is this the best use of those high levels of foreign policy skills she touted during the primaries, that experience bank gathered throughout her years in the field serving as First Lady, her military prowess honed dodging incoming shells with her daughter at her side at foreign airfields under seige? finknottle, do you seriously believe that some ambassador who "paid" for the position through political contributions is the fulcrum of our policies in China? As opposed to what - advisors who paid for their positions with political support? Are you only now discovering how politics works? The Ambassador is the *pointman.* That's not the same as the decider, which happens elsewhere, but it is a critical role. The last thing you want is for a country to think it can get Obama on the phone, or the SecState, or the SecDef, whenever it doesn't like what it hears from the Ambassador. All business goes through him, all direct negotiations go through him, and he is definately the 'return address.' It's really no different than being a customer rep for a company. It is important that you remain the face of the company, and that customers not think they can call up the CEO every time they don't like what you are quoting them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keukasmallies Posted February 11, 2009 Author Share Posted February 11, 2009 So for years Presidents have been sending their Sec of State to confer, negotiate, express concern, etc. for no reason....? What you describe is business as usual...and isn't that anethma to this admin? Given an administration that was elected on the promise of no more business as usual, Yes We Can, and Change, is it really too much to expect that the Sec of State hit the ground running and visit the #1 region of concern--the Middle East? I think not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finknottle Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 So for years Presidents have been sending their Sec of State to confer, negotiate, express concern, etc. for no reason....? What you describe is business as usual...and isn't that anethma to this admin? Look again at where they have sent SecStates. It is usually to (1) confer with Ambassadors in country, or (2) to give a speech to a broad group in a way that says the US is *particularly* interested. The SecState is no more negotiating with the country than is the President when he visits. Any negotiations are already a done deal, it's just theater and appearances. Here is Colin Powell's travels in his first year: --02/16/01 Travel to Mexico --02/23/01 Travel to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Gaza and West Bank, Jordan, Kuwait, Belgium --04/11/01 Travel to France and The Balkans --04/20/01 Travel to Canada --05/22/01 Travel to Mali, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, and Hungary --06/03/01 Travel to OAS General Assembly in San Jose, Costa Rica --06/11/01 Travel to Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Poland, and Slovenia --06/26/01 Travel to the Middle East --07/17/01 Travel to Rome, Italy --07/22/01 Travel to Japan, Vietnam, Republic of Korea, People's Republic of China, and Australia --08/13/01 Travel to The Bahamas --09/10/01 Travel to OAS Special General Assembly in Lima, Peru and Colombia --10/14/01 Travel to Pakistan, India, and APEC Ministerial Meeting --11/09/01 Travel to New York for the United Nations 56th General Assembly --12/03/01 Travel to Europe and Eurasia Just how much important confering and negotiating do you think this accounts for, and how much of what Colin Powell did personally here do you think reflects the priorities of our diplomatic efforts? The guy didn't go to Russia at all, and went to Mali before China! Given an administration that was elected on the promise of no more business as usual, Yes We Can, and Change, is it really too much to expect that the Sec of State hit the ground running and visit the #1 region of concern--the Middle East? I think not. No, because *that's not the job of the Sec of State!* The job is to ensure the smooth running of the US diplomatic machine, not to run around doing free-lance negotiation. And that means that the bulk of the job is managerial - tending to the embassies, bureaus, and task forces; looking out after them, setting their directions and policies; playing peace-maker among the Ambassadors; and representing the Department to the President. Travelling and meeting foreign counterparts is a pretty unimportant part of the job. Ok, so to you the mantra of change means we do it differently. Fine. So why do you assume that the SecState has to be the uber-Ambassador you have in mind? Why not the VP, or the House Speaker? And if you make it the SecState, then who is actually going to run the Department of State? Honestly, this whole depate is about as silly as if people were complaining because the DCI isn't spending all his time at the stations in Islamabad, Kabul, or Bagdad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keukasmallies Posted February 12, 2009 Author Share Posted February 12, 2009 So the Sec of State needs be a great manager, a keen handler of personnel, and a conduit of policy and direction...and the President appointed Hill'ry anyway....? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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