Recently in Politics Category

Um, wow. That's about my only, and intellectually insignificant reaction to hearing that President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The snark in me asks, for what? "Strengthening international diplomacy" according the official citation. Excuse me? When? He inherited one-and-a-half wars from his predecessor and said he would talk to Iranian leaders without pre-conditions. OK, and?

I don't know. He hasn't given a PowerPoint presentation, attempted to broker peace in the Middle East, or Northern Ireland, been under house arrest for nearly two decades, gone into war zones to provide medical assistance, for instance.

So, congratulations Mr. President, I think. With great honors, come great expectations.

It's now really obvious that I don't have a career as a political pundit, and thank Krishna for that. My reticence in Senator Clinton's nomination to State was summed up pretty well in one sentence by David Sanger in his news analysis piece in yesterday's New York Times.

"Of all the choices Mr. Obama has made so far, it is the selection of Mrs. Clinton that appears the biggest gamble, in part because she has never had to engage in the give-and-take of high-stakes diplomacy, and in part because no one really knows how she will mesh with the Obama White House." (emphasis mine)

No one's asking me, but I'm not really too thrilled with the talk around HRC being offered the Secretary of State Cabinet post by Pres.-elect Barack. (Can I call you Barack? It's how you signed all your SMS messages to me.) She's damn smart and a supreme policy wonk, probably more so than you on both counts. But I wouldn't say her Senate record is decorated with international diplomacy winners. May I remind you she voted in support of the war in Iraq?

Domestic policy has always been her stronger suit and interest from her earliest post-grad days. A quick scroll through her online bio confirns: Children's Defense Fund staff attorney, Legal Aid board member, children's and women's advocate. And in the Senate, she has strongly supported domestic issues from raising the minimum wage to the expansion of health care coverage. Tenure on the Armed Services Committee aside, I just don't come away with a sense of internationalism that the last three Secretaries of State have had.

I do feel she can contribute more outside of the Senate, given its rules on seniority and her low standing on that score but State is the wrong spot for her. Now where would a deep thinker, progressive-leaning legal mind be better suited. Paging Justice Stevens, Ready for retirement? Justice Clinton, anyone?