It is said that the more things change, the more they stay the same. It is no surprise, then, that President-elect Barack Obama picked Hillary Clinton to be his secretary of state.
    After a campaign centered on the "change" mantra, Obama picked "more of the same" to be the nation's top foreign official. And don't forget Joe "Six-term Senator" Biden is the VP. 
    Actually, on paper, Hillary is very qualified to head up the State Department. Her experiences as the first lady and as a senator allowed her to travel and meet with heads of state. She is smart on policy, and perhaps most important of all, she is well-respected in most parts of the world.  
    On paper.
    In the real world, however, Hillary is burdened by the curse and blessing of her husband, Bill. On one hand, Hillary would not be where she is today if she hadn't married a future president. On the other, Bill appears to still carry the lack of restraint that led to his impeachment.
    For example, compare the presidential campaigns of Obama and Clinton. Obama's campaign was airtight; if there was internal conflict, we certainly didn't hear about it. Some reporters even nicknamed him Barack "NoDrama."
    Clinton's campaign, by contrast, had more leaks than an old faucet. The Clinton camp might as well have invited the New York Times every time a senior adviser was fired. Often, these snippets of info took the form of a Hillary aid criticizing Bill for being reckless and uncontrollable.
    Why should we expect Clinton's gig as Secretary of State to be any different? More than any other cabinet official, it is crucial that the president and Secretary of State are on the same page. Foreign officials need to know what they hear from the State Department is the same as what they would hear from President Obama himself. There is no room for political maneuvering in foreign policy.
    Hillary and Bill are usually viewed as one political entity — and not without reason. So by default, the world will view anything that Bill says as what Hillary believes. If Bill says anything controversial at one of his many speaking engagements, it will undermine the country in the same way as if the secretary herself had said it.
    Obama has said he wants to assemble a "cabinet of rivals" in the same spirit as his hero Abe Lincoln. Indeed, there is much to be said for avoiding the current administration's case of groupthink — it's important to have different types of people advising you.
    But Lincoln's style is not one to be modeled. Civil War historian Chris Pinsker said Lincoln's cabinet "nearly destroyed the president" and that they were a "plotting, feuding bunch." He also relates the story of Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase, who believed he was more qualified to be President than Lincoln. Sound familiar?
    Pinsker concludes by saying, "Lincoln was a political genius, but his model for cabinet-building should stand more as a cautionary tale than as a leadership manual."
    Clinton is a qualified candidate for the secretary of state job, but her husband's baggage and her personal dramas will undermine the United States' effectiveness around the world.

Tim Hadachek is a junior in political science. Please send comments to opinion@spub.ksu.edu.

1 comments

striphe.blogsome.com

Wed Dec 3 2008 16:55

Is he just going to copy and paste the same column every week?

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