Best And Brightest Of Clinton Hands Seek Obama Treaty
Panetta Suggests Barack Import Hillary ‘Oomph’To His Foreign Team
Robert Einhorn is a hot property.
An expert at the Center for Strategic and International studies, he currently chairs Hillary Clinton’s advisory group on nonproliferation and arms control, a critical political issue as Iran has emerged as a source of bitter conflict between Barack Obama and John McCain.
The Obama campaign already has him in its sights.
“There is no question that Obama will want the support and best advice that distinguished people like Bob Einhorn have to offer,” said a Obama foreign policy adviser who heads up a working group that produces position papers for the candidate. “There is just no question.”
For Mr. Obama, the end of a marathon Democratic primary and the departure of Mrs. Clinton gives him entree to a massive pool of foreign policy talent hitherto unavailable to him and his team.
“I think he has at this stage an adequate staff,” said Leon Panetta, a former chief of staff to Bill Clinton who supports Mrs. Clinton but has advised Mr. Obama on budgetary issues and Iraq. “Could there maybe be a little more oomph to it? That’s probably pretty true for everybody.”
But, referring to Mrs. Clinton’s stable of experts, Mr. Panetta added, “If Obama is smart, he will try and bring them into the family.”
Democratic foreign policy stars like Richard Holbrooke, Madeline Albright and Sandy Berger, who signed on with Mrs. Clinton back when she was the inevitable nominee, will almost certainly make themselves available, and the Obama campaign will also be able go after the less-known but crucial policy specialists among whom Mrs. Clinton had first pick.
With the primary still unsettled, the Obama foreign policy team has refrained until now from openly officially approaching any of her advisers. (Mr. Einhorn said he has not yet been contacted by the Obama campaign and doesn’t think it would be appropriate to offer his services as long as the primary season continues.)
Most of the Clinton people, meanwhile, seem to feel that integration is both inevitable and desirable—despite certain well-known rivalries that exist between senior personnel like Mr. Lake and Mr. Holbrooke—and some go so far as to say that it’s an outright necessity if Mr. Obama is to win in the fall.
In the grimmest Clintonian assessment of the situation, the Obama team is mostly comprised of leftovers after the better-established foreign policy players signed on with Mrs. Clinton, and that lack of depth in the opposition camp has at times manifested itself in the form of Mr. Obama appearing shaky on issues of substance.
“The top 5, 10 foreign policy minds in the party are not supporting Obama,” said one Clinton staffer. “His second rung of foreign policy names, their Susan Rices and Tony Lakes, are not up to the task of heading a foreign policy team for a Democratic nominee. If it’s mid-July and they have not brought on a lot of the staff, supporters and advisers from the Clinton campaign, they will be making a serious mistake.”
According to this school of thought, Mr. Obama’s foreign policy platform—especially the few components that are different from Mrs. Clinton’s—was cobbled together on the fly, and this was in part a function of the lack of an authoritative foreign policy advisory team to guide him. The campaign’s pre-Ohio wobble on Nafta; the forced resignation of adviser Samantha Power for raising questions about Mr. Obama’s commitment to troop withdrawal; and adviser Susan Rice’s comment to MSNBC in March that Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton were “both not ready” to receive an emergency phone call at 3 a.m. are all symptoms. Next Page >
- Poll
- Obama (D)
- McCain(R)
- Spread
- RCP Average
- 50.1
- 42.9
- Obama +7.2
- Candidate
- Favorable
- Unfavorable
- Spread
- Obama
- 57.1
- 36.1
- +21.0
- McCain
- 49.3
- 42.3
- +7.0
BARACK DON'T NEED HILLARY. GIVE HER TO MCCAIN.
HILLARY ONLY KNOWS THE POLITICS OF RACE-BAITING.
HILLARY IS A LOSER WHO WOULD BE A NOBODY BUT FOR BILL.
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Richard Holbrook is brilliant. Obama would be smart to get him on board. Sandy Berger? He of the "papers stuffed in pants"? He shouldn't even be advising the Clinton campaign and should be considered damaged goods by the Obama campaign.
For Heaven's sake.
Does change mean bringing back the same old ideas?
I would hope not.
I am sure most of this piece is credible but it lost me by claiming the primary remains unsettled. Unsettled for whom? Anyone with a functioning brain cell knew Hillary had no chance of winning way before the PA primary and after Obama had won 11 contests in a row and had amassed an elected delegate lead that made it virtually impossible for Hillary to win unless Obama imploded. Even 1/2 of her supporters knew this if a report in the WSJ of 5/20/08 is correct. So any of HIllary's foreign policy experts who don't know yet that this nomination is settled and Hillary has lost, aren't very smart by definition.
RJ Crane, topplebush.com
I think it is more than time to invite and include new ideas and perspectives. It is almost predictable what these people will say since Clinton has been saying it throughout her campaign. It is based on conceptions and imagination which may be outdated given all the new means of communications and the new international configurations on economic, socio-technical and political grounds.
It is very important to be able to start from first principles and build within the current realities, not impose past policies because they remain based on how one conceives of the international environment and are what one knows.
I would say that the Clinton group is much more vested in the past and maybe cannot get past the past. It is difficult to see brillance among so many who have been wrong so often. Now if one wants to say stuffy and ego-centric, there will be no argument here.
I think Jim Webb is able to view problems pragmatically, intelligently, objectively and imaginatively based on fundamentals, principles, objectives, and resources required. He has certainly been a better predictor of foreign policy consequences than Albright, Holbrooke, et al.
Let's also talk 'Political Economy':)
Who's who and what's what?
Time to work on 'fundamentals'- thoughts on our 'moral economy' team, the end of 'market fundamentalism'- see you", a three trillion dollar peace, ....
Coach
http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~rbutler/shortcourse1.htm
Where is Brzezinski's name in this whole thing? Brzezinski is already advising Obama but is staying out of sight so as not to give away the game. Obama will be targeting Russia if he gets elected and he'll be advised by Brzezinski and Zbig's kids.
He will also listen to Goolsbee on economic matters which is going to be more of the same...Goolsbee is a Yalie and Skull and Bones member.
Holbrooke is a war criminal for his actions in Yugoslavia during Bubba's stint as CiC as is Albright.
So what we're hoping for here is one set of war criminals replacing another set, but this set is OK because they're nominally Democrats???
I haven't had a drink in 21 years and I'm starting to wonder why not?
Obama supporters...liken up!!!insults and name calling...what gives
Oregon here. In this state, we look for someone who is capable of using the tools (advisors) available. Not all experts are wielded to good effect as we have been painfully schooled to notice in the last few years. Let's have a candidate who will be able to elicit the information AND use it wisely. I don't count words like "obliterate" in the plus column when discussing foreign policy, you?
Holbrook and Albright are hardly war criminals for supporting the intervention by NATO which saved thousands of people who would have been either murdered of driven out of their homes by the Serbs led by Slobodan Milosevic.
/s/ retired Balkan area specialist and attache
Hillary does not have any "oomph." She is just Bush in a pantsuit. She has lied again and again and can't be trusted.
She signs an agreement with McCain and senator Obama not to campaign in Florida, then goes on the radio stating the votes won't count after she gets on the ballot, now she throws fits trying to count them for herself. Let's start fresh and new. Throw the trash out where it belongs!
OBAMA:
WE WANT CHANGE --- NOT THE CLINTONS.
SAY A BIG "NO" TO HILLARY, SHE IS A "RACE-BAITER".
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Hillary and Bill Clinton have "trashed" the Democratic Party. Let me repeat: "Trashed" the democratic party. Hillary is in the pursuit of power and padding her resume at any and all costs. The Clintons are about the Clintons, period. They've already had 8 years in the White House and this country is ran by the democratic process. But, as of this writing, you have her campaign supporters working behind the scenes diligently, along with her husband trying to strong-arm the superdelegates! Hillary Clinton is a proven liar over and over again. She is not in the lead. Now, that she is behind in the delegate count, she is trying her best to bring up slavery, women suffragettes. Hillary, you lost fair and square. You have to know that you win some and you lose some. This constant back and forth with the math is absurdity at the highest level. Your campaign supporters must think that the other population drinks kool-aid! You will never win with these low-down tactics and if you think you are, well, you are delusional.
Your multiple personality disorders, your blatant lies, your fierce self-righteousness are all negatives for a leader. We don't need or want your brand. For your information, most women don't want to be like Hillary. You even turn off women that do want to support you. Interesting? Yes! You will not win this election, so I guess that's why you are shouting "night and day." Do the American people a favor and shut-up! The nomination is over!
The big problem with Hillary is the collection of cronies, supporters and "advisers" that surround her. And I extend that to include the DLC/AIPAC group that has resulted in half of the Democrats being indistinguishable from Republicans.
It's this clown posse, as much as Hillary, that refuses to concede and go into a well-earned retirement.
Politics today is a collection of competing gangs.
Theoretically some of her "advisers" are heavy hitters in foreign policy. In reality, they have credibility that makes them look good, but these are the same people who have advocated losing positions for a lot longer than 8 years.
I sincerely hope that Obama finds his own team and avoids any continuation of the HillBilly machine.
Clinton, having gaffe after gaffe, has shown she is not capable of leading us in a very crucial time. She is as embarassing as Bush, and has no standing with the foreign leaderships. Even with the BEST advisors, she will open her mouth and spew BS. I think we are truly sick of being lied to constantly and I feel she has a personal agenda.
This is a very difficult time in America and whoever has to clean up the mess we are in must be not only with the best advisors, but open and honest. I truly see this in Obama as do many folks. As a 50+ white woman, I am not voting based on gender or race but on their voting records their honesty, and the wisdom to vote for the benefit of the American people. Obama has all that and more. With the old advisors and the new, he will have the benefit of how best to change the rational for our future. For the first time ever, I am voting FOR a candidate and not AGAINST the republican nominee.
let the general start already
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Are the Super delegates on vacation? What, or who, are they afraid of. Obama won this long ago. Why don't they vote and end this fiasco before Hillary or Bill hurt themselves even more seriously. They just do not play nicely with others. For the rest of us, those who support the Democratic Party for what it may do for our country and not at a vehicle for our insufferable egos, it is time to turn to the real problems facing our country. End the war, deal with energy, a real GI Bill for our veterans, confront the slipping sliding economy, negotiate with world leaders, even those nuttier than the Clintons. These are serious times.They demand serious leaders. Someone should tell the Clintons that while they were making racist comments and running from imaginary snipers the torch had been passed. They had a shot at it yet again, messed it up once again and now should retire to private life with the $100 million that he made because we twice elected hin. Isn't that enough? Let's make a deal, Bill and Hillary. If you just go away we will turn our attention to serious matters
So which of Clinton's best and brightest advisers suggested that she support Bush's pitches for war with Iraq and Iran? We don't need a lot more foreign policy advice like that.