A note in an AP story Rahm Emanuel being offered the chief of staff job caught my attention. According to some Democrats, John Kerry would like to be Secretary of State, but the freshly shaven Bill Richardson would also like the job, and let’s not forget the role of Joe Biden.
According to the AP, “Several Democrats also said Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry was actively seeking appointment as secretary of State in the new administration.” Newsweek is also reporting that Obama is considering Kerry for Sec. of State, but notes that this could change if Joe Biden has questions about it. Biden is the real wild card here, because he is going to have a major hand in the foreign policy direction of this administration.
Kerry isn’t a foreign policy expert, and most interestingly, he voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq. Either Kerry is simply getting consideration because of his support of Obama during the campaign, or Obama thinks that he might be the person to carry out his diplomatic vision. I think that Bill Richardson is a more obvious and better fit for the administration. If Obama wants to hit the ground running, it would be beneficial to have someone as experienced and connected with diplomacy as Richardson is.
The final choice belongs to Obama, but Biden is going to have a great deal of influence in this decision. I do wonder if Biden and Richardson, who both see themselves as foreign policy experts, and have the egos to match, would be capable of working together, or could this, be too many cooks in the kitchen. Obama does admire the Team of Rivals style cabinet, so he might welcome the possibility of two differing views. This is truly a fascinating time as we are starting to get a glimpse of how a potential Obama administration might look.
Newsweek’s Washington Whispers
Your comparison of Kerry and Richardson is ridiculous. Kerry was brilliant in the foreign policy debate in 2004. Kerry has been on the Senate Foreign Committee for 24 years. A few years ago, Madeline Albright wrote a book on foreign policy. One of the foreign policy thinkers she opted to quote – and highly praise was John Kerry. Interestingly, she didn’t quote a recent speech or his call for the need to “turn” from his 1971 Senate testimony. She quoted from his 1966 (not a typo) Yale speech which focused on the need to understand and respect the cultures of other countries – a theme he still focuses on.
As to his IWR vote, he carefully explained why he voted in the speech before the vote. He listed the promises Bush and Powell publicly made and he said he would speak out if Bush did not keep these promises. When it was clear Bush had no intention to go to war only as a last resort – he spoke out. Richardson actually was OPEN to invading Iraq at the point that Kerry was saying at Georgetown NOT TO RUSH TO WAR. Additionally, it is Kerry who has led the Democrats to be united behind an exit strategy – in 2006, Kerry and Feingold had 13 Senators behind Kerry/Feingold – about a half year later 51 Senators were behind a variation of it.
Kerry easily won the nomination in 2004, where Richardson was unimpressive in 2008.
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