In 1968, Lyndon Johnson called on Clark Clifford, Truman confidante, Democratic Party fixer, and all-around wise man, to take the reins of the Pentagon. Clifford soon became convinced that the Vietnam War was lost and persuaded Johnson to begin the end. Had Hubert Humphrey squeezed out a few more votes, it's likely that Clifford would have stayed in the job and helped to end the war long before January of 1973.
Clifford was a charter member of the postwar Democratic party foreign policy establishment and, as his generation left the scene, many thought the Establishment itself was gone. I thought of Clifford--and Averill Harriman, John McCone, Dean Acheson and the other "wise men"--when I read this piece on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. There are several intriguing items.
First, note that not a single member of her campaign inner circle made it to the State Department. They were generally incompetent. They were also slimy. They are gone. Yes, she does learn.
Second, the article hints at the multiplier effect, but doesn't draw it out. Rodham Clinton possesses star power. This multiplies the Administration's effectiveness. She isn't a Warren Christopher. She deploys "smart power" of her own, not simply derived power from the president. Together, they have more than they would separately.
Third, there is no daylight between the two principals. Or anyone else. Unlike poor Secretary Powell, who needed constantly to check his back for Cheney's knife, Obama and Clinton work together.
Finally, this is her role. She is not a politician; she is not her husband; she is exceptionally unlikely to be president. She is a wise woman, one who possesses an extraordinary understanding of American foreign and domestic policy and an ability to work well in offices, corridors and nonvoting publics to advance good policies. She is in the mold of John Hay, Henry Stimson, Harry Hopkins, Averill Harriman, or, yes, Clark Clifford.
The fact that she is who she is and serves where she is serving at this point in our history is a very good thing for the country.
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