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| Clinton Announces 2 Special Envoys: Holbrooke for Afghanistan-Pakistan and Mitchell for Middle East |
| 2009-01-24 |
| President Obama traveled to the State Department yesterday afternoon for a visit that was as rich in symbolism as in substance, underscoring his pledge to give top priority to diplomacy as he outlined an activist policy in the Middle East and warned that "difficult days lie ahead" in Afghanistan. Clinton Addresses State Department Employees Obama and Vice President Biden stood to one side as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced new special emissaries on the most intractable national security problems -- Richard C. Holbrooke for Afghanistan-Pakistan and George J. Mitchell for the Middle East -- to an invited gathering of several hundred, including State Department officials. Just hours earlier, about 1,000 cheering civil service and Foreign Service employees had packed the building's lobby to welcome her on her first day at work. Clinton called the appointments of Holbrooke and Mitchell "a loud and clear signal . . . that our nation is once again capable of demonstrating global leadership in pursuit of progress and peace." Obama said the two statesmen would "convey our seriousness of purpose" in dealing with challenges he described as complex and urgent. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #8 They're saving him for Iran. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2009-01-24 19:11 |
| #7 Was Warren Christopher unavailable or something? |
| Posted by: Raj 2009-01-24 14:46 |
| #6 Mitchell - horrible Senate majority leader, typically ineffective MidEast envoy - yep, a recycled loser. Holbrooke - actually one of the few real people in the Dem stable, shoulda been SecState, in the right environment I've always thought he'd be decent. Let's just say that given some leeway he'd probably be 1,000 times better than Powell. He's arrogant and over-bearing, but that hubris comes from within, not from a dependent relationship with the idiot Beltway media and elite. In this role, he's obviously constrained by his mostly clueless and weak bosses. But what really makes me ill is the ceaseless and unopposed repetition of the "diplomacy" fantasy. You should see the hilarious responses when I walk a friend's undergraduate foreign policy class through my "what is diplomacy?" exercise. At the end most seem to understand that talk is just talk, but behold the death-grip the media has on this fantasy concept. And for gobsmacking orwellian inversion of the facts, nothing beats this line of theirs that the US will "once again" demonstrate leadership. US leadership has been more pronounced and forceful since 9/11 than it had been since the 1950s "hot" period of the Cold War (GHW Bush's Kuwait-related period of August 1990 to March 1991 was on the same scale). One hopes that for our own longer term good these twinks get b-slapped by some adversary, and soon. |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2009-01-24 12:40 |
| #5 Boy howdy, it's a good thing we're putting fresh eyeballs on these problems ... |
| Posted by: Steve White 2009-01-24 10:54 |
| #4 i think i wouild tell her I quit befoe being assigned this shithole job |
| Posted by: rabid whitetail 2009-01-24 10:16 |
| #3 This must be that 'smart power' that she talked about. Time to dispatch the flying monkeys. |
| Posted by: WTF 2009-01-24 08:08 |
| #2 Clinton called the appointments of Holbrooke and Mitchell "a loud and clear signal" Mission accomplished. More "Change" we can believe in. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-01-24 07:39 |
| #1 recycling losers |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-01-24 07:35 |