HRC as SoS

I'm still somewhat baffled by Obama's choice of Clinton to head State. That being said, I think she'll excel as long as two qualifications are met. As the press has widely reported, the working relationship between a president and his principal diplomat must be effective and efficient should diplomacy work and the president's foreign relations agenda born out. But there's another element that people often overlook: running the Department of State. It's a behemoth and requires a fluid administrator that can manage and coordinate disparate facets of diplomacy. That's certainly one of the tests a new secretary faces, in addition to fulfilling the president's vision.

One thing I've loved in recent stories is the description of Kissinger and Nixon. Both distrusted the other and criticized the other behind their back, but they worked as a pair. As Robert Dallek has aptly dubbed them, Partners in Power. But it was made possible by Kissinger's willingness to be the subordinate and fawn and agree when Nixon's paranoia and disgust of others reared its head. Of course, most of the press has ignored the fact that Kissinger operated, in many ways, as de facto SoS from 69-73, and he regularly undermined and attacked SoS Rogers. Neither Kissinger nor Nixon trusted State, and Kissinger was Nixon's formal SoS for a year before he resigned. So if you read about how well Nixon and Kissinger worked, it's an odd relationship and is uncharacteristic of most administrations. That's the very reason you don't hear much about Ford's and Kissinger's successes on par with Nixon's and Kissinger's.