What’s This About Hillary’s Possible Political Move?
By Bronwyn's Harbor on October 5, 2009 at 11:30 AM in Current Affairs
I subscribe to a fascinating weekly newsletter, written by a group of D.C. insiders, called Swoop, which sends a weekly e-mail every Sunday. Here’s this Sunday’s installment — read through to the end to get the news on Hillary. And note the troubles that Obama is facing with Iran and Afghanistan.
Washington’s World – October 5th – October 11th, 2009
Administration officials are modestly pleased with the outcome of the October 1st Geneva talks with Iran. They feel they assembled a robust coalition to put pressure on Tehran and that, as a direct result of this, the Iranians are being more responsive to international demands on their nuclear program than has been the case in the past. They also fee they have bought time to deepen the search for a diplomatic solution — though there remains much skepticism on that front among foreign policy experts. Based on our private conversations with senior officials, our assessment is that President Obama wants above all to avoid turning Iran into a crisis.
[Bronwyn's aside: OF COURSE HE DOES -- Obama, above all else, tries to be the artful dodger because he is TERRIFIED of having to make TOUGH DECISIONS. Look at his procrastination in getting into serious talks with the generals on Afghanistan. There's more below on Afghanistan.]
As one senior official commented to us: “Obama does not want to make Iran the touchstone of his foreign policy.” If this fails, then the White House fallback position is to fashion — albeit without any explicit acknowledgment — a Cold War-style deterrence policy toward Iran. This may set the stage for some form of Israeli unilateral action in the coming months.
A more pressing problem for Obama is Afghanistan. Here the fault lines between his civilian and military advisers as well divisions inside the Democratic party are increasingly on display. The Pentagon is urging a substantial expansion of the US presence while the others want to recast US war aims to focus almost exclusively on countering Al-Qaeda. The choice is an uncomfortable one for Obama, not made easier by growing doubts about the legitimacy of the Karzai government. No decision is expected for another few weeks.
[Bronwyn's aside: That's SO Obama. Avoid, avoid, avoid. Obama hasn't the prerequisites for true leadership, which include the ability to MAKE A DECISION, to grab the bull by the horns. The only thing Obama knows how to do is read from a teleprompter, which even his allies are growing weary of, and prevaricate. They're seeing too much talk and no decisive actions.]
Obama’s dilemmas on foreign policy are throwing a spotlight on the apparent inability of Secretary of State Clinton to bring her influence to bear. In private conversation she has indicated that she may be interested in running for the governorship of New York in 2010.
One can only hope that is true, though at this time, it might be best to take that with a grain of salt.
And that’s the latest from the week that was.
by Ronald Scott
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