Best And Brightest Of Clinton Hands Seek Obama Treaty/ (Obama to Import Clinton Foreign Team?)

Best And Brightest Of Clinton Hands Seek Obama Treaty

Panetta Suggests Barack Import Hillary ‘Oomph’To His Foreign Team
by Jason Horowitz | May 20, 2008

This article was published in the May 26, 2008, edition of The New York Observer.

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.

More of long article here.........
http://www.observer.com/2008/best-and-brightest-clinton-hands-seek-obama-treaty

hehe :rofl:

Hillary needs to have her foreign policy ideas checked and re-checked by someone with more commonsense before she spouts them off as her official policy. That magical nuclear umbrella over all of the Middle East (except for Iran) was even dumber. Magic military umbrellas equal permanent bases, economic drain to our treasury, more anti-American sentiment overseas, and reduced military preparedness. George Bush couldn't craft a better version of his own failed foreign policy.

The obliterate Iran comment by Hillary was an answer to a hypothetical question. A response to a hypothetical question cannot fairly be called a threat. You may want to brush up on your English.

Hillary's (and McCain's) stance about meeting with other countries, then Obama can do much better. I'd listen to Biden for the ultimate understanding of the real situation around the globe.

From the Cornell Daily Sun. I think the author meant "blunders":
"Barack Obama has proven that no amount of popularity can match the experience and knowledge required to master the complexities of foreign policy. Obama threatened to unilaterally bomb Pakistan if actionable intelligence placed high-level al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan and President Musharraf would not act. While this threat became a good applause line, Musharraf, a U.S. ally who faces a tough situation in Pakistan, did not take so kindly to Obama's words, and he certainly was not alone. Obama's statement, combined with his willingness at the same time to meet with crazy dictators like Chavez and Ahmadinejaid, provoked much criticism from Hillary Clinton on Obama's naive statement, and Mitt Romney weighed in as well with the best one-liner of Sunday's Republican debate: "In one week, he went from saying he's going to sit down, you know, for tea, with our enemies, but then he's going to bomb our allies. I mean, he's gone from Jane Fonda to Dr. Strangelove in one week." In the Democratic debate that shortly followed, both Hillary Clinton and veteran Senator and foreign policy expert Chris Dodd double-teamed Obama for his reckless decree. At the very least, Obama's public declaration of hostility towards Pakistan does not qualify as "common sense."
http://cornellsun.com/node/23671

Although, I hope he doesn't accept some of the Clinton's foreign policy team who tend to be very hawkish it says he's been meeting with Lee Hamilton, David Borun and Sam Nunn. I don't find any of those three trustworthy...they are the "shadow government." I'd hate to see "shadow government" get their hooks into Obama...but maybe there's no way around that. They are always with us....and will not be denied.

Who's left? Madeleine Albright?


Sun-Times News Group
Sweet column: Inside look at Obama's foreign policy team
Lynn Sweet

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2007/05/sweet_column_inside_look_at_ob_1.html



The Atlantic
Team Obama
Matthew Yglesias

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/11/team_obama_1.php