Well, the deputy secretary of state has been announced, and it's... two deputies ;-) Check out the AP story - James Steinberg as expected, but also Jacob Lew in a new role as co-deputy with a focus on management and budget issues.
2 top aides in Bill Clinton's administration to join Hillary Clinton at State Department
Two former Clinton administration officials were named Tuesday to join the State Department in high posts when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton becomes secretary of state.
James Steinberg, a deputy national security adviser under President Bill Clinton, was chosen as deputy secretary of state. Jacob J. Lew, who was Clinton's budget director, was named to oversee management and budget issues as co-deputy, a unique arrangement for the department.
All the Hillary-haters had previously described Steinberg as Obama's loyal minder to make sure Hillary didn't actually, you know, run things, so that's no big surprise. The surprise is Jacob Lew, who has impressive credentials because he spent several years in senior positions at OMB for Bill Clinton before being named OMB director in 1998. He knows how to get the money to get things done in Washington, and will be managing the day-to-day operations for Hillary.
The New York Times, of course, spun Hillary's interest in developing a structure which actually lets her get things done as some sinister expansion of power, conveniently forgetting how the Bush regime effectively neutered the State Department by assigning it no significant role in the Iraq war. Well, they also conveniently forgot all of Judith Miller's cheerleading for war based on non-existent WMDs in their pages as well, so it's understandable why they would put a spin on it. Sample alarmist purple prose:
Even before taking office, Hillary Rodham Clinton is seeking to build a more powerful State Department, with a bigger budget, high-profile special envoys to trouble spots and an expanded role in dealing with global economic issues at a time of crisis.
Robert Schesinger over at US News and World Report injects a little sanity into the announcement, specifically addressing the NYT's anti-Hillary bias:
This is a good thing regardless of who is the secretary-too much of our foreign policy (not simply the contours of the policy but its day-to-day execution) has been taken over by the Pentagon over the last eight years, and not simply because we're actively fighting in various parts of the world; the sun never sets on the U.S. military, and our officers and civilian defense officials have increasingly played roles more traditionally left to diplomats.
But Hillary Clinton is particularly well suited for this job. From the Times: Given Mrs. Clinton's prominence, expanding the department's portfolio could bring on conflict with other powerful cabinet members.
Not quite. What they should have said was: Expanding the department's portfolio could bring conflict, and given Mrs. Clinton's prominence, she stands a decent chance of prevailing. Having a powerful secretary of state is a good thing if you want to have a powerful department of state.
To which I add, amen. Obama knows what his weaknesses are (one of which being utter cluelessness of foreign policy), and he's hoping to vicariously benefit from Hillary doing a good job. He's a lot more subtle than the Hillary haters who voted for him. |
