Obama Must Unleash Hillary

Campaign feud gets in the way of foreign policy
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 16, 2010 12:40 PM CDT
Obama Must Unleash Hillary
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton listens during a joint press availability with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, not shown, Tuesday, July 13, 2010, at the State Department.   (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

Hillary Clinton visited Armenia last week, trying to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh disagreement and resolve the country's dispute with Turkey over the massacres of 1915. “You’ve got to salute Hillary,” writes Roger Cohen of the New York Times. “It’s a heck of a job being secretary of state when the White House puts a tight collar around the big issues — Afghanistan, Iran, Israel-Palestine and Iraq — and you’re left with Nagorno-Karabakh.”

This wouldn’t be so bad if President Obama’s boys' club were filled with foreign policy heavyweights, but it’s not—Henry Kissinger allegedly calls the advisers “the kids.” Obama reportedly relies heavily on Denis McDonough, who like many of his colleagues is more qualified for campaigning than policy-making. The brilliant Clinton, meanwhile, is marginalized, in part, sources tell Cohen, because of lingering primary bitterness. That must stop: "The State Department cannot be the White House annex for non-critical affairs." (More Hillary Clinton stories.)

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