so, does she have foreign policy experience, or not?

The latest hubbub in the media is the discussion about Hillary and whether Obama will name her as Secretary of State. I haven’t decided if I like the idea or not, although it would be great to have her in such an important roll. If she is SoS, it pretty much confirms she will not run in 4 years, although I am not sure if she would, anyway.

But, what I am wondering, is WHY Obama is considering her for Secretary of State. Obama spent the primary season telling us over and over again that Hillary does not have foreign policy experience. So, why would he consider her for a role that is all about foreign policy?

“I hope people start asking, what exactly is this foreign experience that she’s claiming? I know she talks about visiting 80 countries. However it’s not clear…was she negotiating treaties or agreements, or was she handling crises during this period of time?” Obama asked.

So, is Obama just leaking this story, to pretend he is considering her, or is he seriously considering her? And if he is seriously considering Hillary, then why? Why would he put someone in that position that did nothing more than throw tea parties?

“It’s that experience, that understanding, not just of what world leaders I went and talked to in the ambassador’s house I had tea with, but understanding the lives of the people like my grandmother who lives in a tiny hut in Africa,” he said.

“When Senator Clinton brags ‘I’ve met leaders from eighty countries’ — I know what those trips are like! I’ve been on them. You go from the airport to the embassy. There’s a group of children who do native dance. You meet with the CIA station chief and the embassy and they give you a briefing. You go take a tour of a plant that [with] the assistance of USAID has started something. And then — you go.”

Obama also claimed to have far more foreign policy experience than Clinton or McCain, because he lived in Indonesia when he was 6-10 years old, and vacationed for three weeks in Pakistan when he was in college.

“You do that in eighty countries,” Obama said, “You don’t know those eighty countries. So when I speak about having lived in Indonesia for four years, having family that is impoverished in small villages in Africa –knowing the leaders is not important — what I know is the people…I traveled to Pakistan when I was in college — I knew what Sunni and Shia was [sic] before I joined the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.”

Obama even went so far as to have his team draft a memo, slamming Hillary on her foreign policy. His strongest punch was her support of the Iraq war. (although, it doesn’t seem to bother him that Biden did, too.)

The memo, “Senator Clinton’s claim to be experienced in foreign policy: Just words?” hits Hillary on every claim she makes to have foreign policy experience. You can read the entire memo here.

The memo finishes, “And Barack Obama does not use false charges and exaggerated claims to play politics with national security.”

So, I ask, why would he choose Hillary as SoS and take such *risks* with national security?

Is he seriously considering naming Hillary, the former First Lady, who just poured tea and watched a few native dances, as Secretary of State?

“Supporters of rival Barack Obama argued that the former first lady’s trips abroad hardly constituted a practice run for managing global crises.”She was never asked to do the heavy lifting” when meeting with foreign leaders, said Susan Rice, who was an assistant secretary of state in the Clinton administration and is now advising Obama. “She wasn’t asked to move the mountain or deliver a harsh message or a veiled threat. It was all gentle prodding or constructive reinforcement. And it would not have been appropriate for her to do the heavy lifting.”

Is this possibly his *worst hire yet* or did he not really mean anything he said about her during the primary?

She either has foreign policy experience or she doesn’t. So, which is it?

(for the record, I think she is very qualified for the job. It is Obama who apparently doesn’t think she is qualified…at least he didn’t a couple of months ago.)