Sen. Hillary Clinton Would Have Short Record to Defend in a Confirmation Hearing

Nov. 21, 2008 – 7:00 p.m.

Sen. Hillary Clinton Would Have Short Record to Defend in a Confirmation Hearing

By Adam Graham-Silverman, CQ Staff

In meetings with the presidents of Pakistan and Afghanistan last year, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton asked each whether they wanted a special U.S. envoy to negotiate the tangled issues that divide them. Each, separately, told her yes, which led her to call the White House and make the appeal for such a post part of her presidential campaign.

The Bush administration never created the job, but now, with the New York Democrat looking increasingly likely to be nominated for secretary of State under President-elect Barack Obama , she may have a chance to do it herself.

Clinton’s supporters point to the special envoy idea as an example of her creative thinking on international affairs. But the fact that the effort never gained any traction underscores another point about her qualifications: While Clinton has been a high-wattage star on the international stage since her time as First Lady, she lacks a long resume of foreign-policy successes to accompany her celebrity.

One of Clinton’s harshest critics in this regard was the Obama campaign itself during the battle for the Democratic nomination.

“There is no reason to believe . . . that she was a key player in foreign policy at any time during the Clinton Administration,” Obama adviser Greg Craig wrote in a lengthy memo March 11 rebutting her claims to experience. “She did not do any heavy-lifting with foreign governments, whether they were friendly or not.”

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While the initial news of Clinton’s potential nomination was greeted with surprise, particularly among liberals who saw her representing the hawkish side of the party, her nomination would be almost certain to sail through the Senate. John Kerry , D-Mass., the likely chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee next year, recently called her a “terrific person.” On the other side of the aisle, Minority Whip Jon Kyl , R-Ariz., said she would be “a very good selection.”

The Clinton and Obama camps also have reportedly worked out an arrangement to head off potential conflicts of interest with former President Bill Clinton, whose global speaking engagements and philanthropic work around the Clinton Global Initiative have raised concerns.

The possibility of conflict between Obama and Clinton, however, may be a greater worry.

“You cannot be a truly effective secretary of State without the confidence of your presisdent, without the president trusting you,” said Aaron David Miller, a former top State official now at the Woodrow Wilson International Center. “She clearly does not have that with Barack Obama .”

Miller said other foreign leaders would seize upon any perception of daylight between Clinton and Obama and “play it like a finely tuned violin.”

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In terms of legislative accomplishment on foreign affairs, however, the list is thin. Clinton sits on Senate Armed Services Commitee, not the Foreign Relations panel. But her supporters point to New York’s ethnic diversity and the city’s wounds from the Sept. 11 attacks as evidence of her understanding of global issues.

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