02 December 2008
Hillary Clinton Is Obama’s Pick to Head State Department
Senator pledges vigorous diplomacy to pursue freedom, peace and prosperity
Washington — Vigorous diplomacy is needed to address the security and policy interests of the United States, according to Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton. She said Barack Obama’s election as president signifies “a new effort to renew America's standing in the world as a force for positive change.”
Speaking in Chicago December 1, Clinton told Obama, “If confirmed, I will give this assignment, your administration and our country my all.”
Clinton, currently a U.S. senator from New York, was first lady during Bill Clinton’s 1993-2001 presidency. She was also President-elect Obama’s principal challenger in the battle for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in 2008.
In announcing he had selected Senator Clinton to become the 67th secretary of state, Obama described her as “an American of tremendous stature who will have my complete confidence, who knows many of the world's leaders, who will command respect in every capital, and who will clearly have the ability to advance our interests around the world.”
If confirmed, Clinton will face an “ambitious foreign policy agenda,” such as preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to Iran and North Korea, seeking peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and strengthening international institutions, Obama said. (See “National Security Team Selected by Obama.”)
Clinton had a long legal career before campaigning for her husband in his elections as attorney general in Arkansas (1976), governor of Arkansas (1978) and president of the United States in 1992. In 1974, she worked on the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, where she was a member of an inquiry staff researching the possibility of impeaching then-President Richard Nixon for his involvement in the Watergate scandal.
As first lady, Clinton traveled to 79 countries, She was a strong advocate of women’s rights around the world and a vocal opponent of the Taliban’s treatment of women in Afghanistan. She also helped create the Vital Voices initiative, designed to promote women’s political participation across the globe.
In November 2000, Clinton was elected to the Senate and has served on several committees including Budget, Armed Services, and Environment and Public Works. She has served as commissioner on the Senate Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
In her December 1 remarks, Senator Clinton said she is proud to be joining Obama “on what will be a difficult and exciting adventure in this new century.” Along with defending its freedoms and liberties, the United States will “reach out to the world again, seeking common cause and higher ground,” she pledged.
“We know our security, our values, and our interests cannot be protected and advanced by force alone, nor, indeed, by Americans alone. We must pursue vigorous diplomacy using all the tools we can muster to build a future with more partners and fewer adversaries, more opportunities and fewer dangers, for all who seek freedom, peace and prosperity.”
SUSAN RICE CHOSEN AS U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS
Obama also selected Susan E. Rice to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The president-elect said he plans to restore the post to a Cabinet-level position, as it had been during the Clinton administration.
Rice “knows the global challenges we face demand global institutions that work,” Obama said, adding she shares his view that the United Nations is both “indispensable” as a multilateral institution as well as “imperfect” and in need of reform.
“We need the United Nations to be more effective as a venue for collective action against terror and proliferation, climate change and genocide, poverty and disease,” the president-elect said.
A former Rhodes Scholar, Rice was a senior foreign policy adviser to Obama during his campaign and is a member of the Obama-Biden Transition Project’s advisory board. In the Clinton administration, she was assistant secretary of state for African affairs between 1997 and 2001, and served on the National Security Council between 1993 and 1997.
Speaking in Chicago, Rice said that with Obama’s election, U.S. voters signaled to the world that the country is “on the path to change.”
“Now we must fulfill that promise by joining with others to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities of the 21st century — to prevent conflict, to promote peace, combat terrorism, prevent the spread and use of nuclear weapons, tackle climate change, end genocide, fight poverty and disease,” she said.
The United States cannot accomplish these goals on its own, she said. “To enhance our common security, we must invest in our common humanity. And to do so, we need capable partners and far more effective international institutions.”
