12:50. Hearing takes a break until around 2:00. We'll be back.
12:44. Menendez calls attention to the issues of recognizing the Armenian genocide and the reunification of Cyprus.
12:41. Sen. Menendez wants to make sure we elevate foreign assistance.
12:29. Clinton on the three D's of foreign policy: defense, diplomacy, and development. Not necessarily in that order, though; she's not too happy about Defense Department encroachment on State turf. Looks like she's already well into her future role.
12:28. Emptywheel at FDL is a little bit cynical about these whole confirmation hearing things...
12:25. Ben Cardin, thankfully, mentions the Iraq refugee crisis. Perhaps Matt Dillon got to him.
12:13. Kerry echoes: Law of the Sea treaty will be a priority of the Foreign Relations committee.
12:10. Murkowski mentions "proximity to North Korea." At least she didn't say Kim Jong Il would rear his head into Alaskan airspace...
The Washington Times is not exactly known as a paragon of journalistic excellence. But this scare mongering piece about former Environmental Protection Agency administrator and President elect-Obama's choice to be a new climate change czar Carol Browner's alleged "socialist" ties is laughably foolish. Browner was apparently a member of something called the Commission for a Sustainable World Society, which is part of an international organization of left-of-center parties called Socialist International. On the blogs, commentators like Gateway Pundit calls this an "anti-American, anti-West socialist organization." Jammie Wearing Fool calls it a "communist group" and Sister Toldjah uses this as evidence that Browner is to "left of most leftists." What they fail to point out, though, is that Socialist International includes such notable freedom hating anti-western Marxist groups as the British Labor party, the NDP in Canada, and the Israeli Labor party.
The problems, though, do not stop there. They believe a conspiracy is afoot to hide this affiliation because her name was scrubbed from the website of the Commission for a Sustainable World Society. What the conspiricists do not seem to consider is that her name was taken down because she is no longer a member of the commission. Her name was also taken off the list of directors of the Audubon Society and off the website of the Alliance for Climate Protection, presumably because she can no longer affiliate herself with these organizations while serving in the United States government. The answer is that simple.
Now, I don't speak for Carol Browner. We have never met. But I do think she has some solid ideas on how to wean the United States from its addiction to carbon. For example here is Dr. Browner explaining the merits of a cap and trade system for On Day One.
Today is the seventh anniversary of the opening of the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. Protests in Madrid and London marked the occasion. Meanwhile, President-elect Barack Obama addressed the question of Guantanamo head on in an ABC News interview yesterday. He demurred on the whether or not he'd be able to close the prison camp in his first 100 days, but re-affirmed his commitment to see the place shuttered.
That's a challenge. I think it's going to take some time and our legal teams are working in consultation with our national security apparatus as we speak to help design exactly what we need to do. But I don't want to be ambiguous about this. We are going to close Guantanamo and we are going to make sure that the procedures we set up are ones that abide by our constitution. That is not only the right thing to do but it actually has to be part of our broader national security strategy because we will send a message to the world that we are serious about our values. [emphasis mine]Not everyone is satisfied with this answer. I think it's pretty significant, though, that Obama couches his objection to Guantanamo in terms of American security interests. For the past seven years the administration judged that the benefits of having a place to indefinitely incarcerate alleged terrorists outweighed the potential damage to American interests from sponsoring an entity so antithetical to American values. Obama's answer suggests that he comes at this from the opposite cost-benefit analysis, that America's strength comes from the idea that is America--not its ability to trap foreigners and place them in zones of nebulous legality. That's change I can believe in. Image from flickr. Creative commons license.
There is one day left in the first round of our On Day One ideas contest. Of the 81 quarter finalists selected by our panel of judges, nine will move on to the semis. So far, the ideas leading in the popular vote include this video from SeeProgress on "the global common good" (Category: US Image in the World); Robert Greenwald's suggestion that we begin to end the war (Category: Iraq); Mathew Yglesias' recommendation that the United States commit to nuclear disarmament (Category: nuclear proliferation); WorldTraveler29's idea that the United States tackle the root causes of terrorism (terrorism category); Jaime Zimmerman's suggestion that the next president reform our foreign assistance programs (Category: poverty) Rose Ann Witt's recommendation that the next president create a cabinet level department of peace (category: peacekeeping); Grobdsash's exhortation that the next president end torture and close Guantanamo (Category: Democracy and Human Rights); Roger Doiron's proposal that the next president build a vegetable garden on the White House lawn (category: climate change); and Adrienne Germain's call for the next president to guarantee women's rights around the world. (Category: global women's issues).
There is still one day left in this round, so make sure to head over to On Day One to register your vote. The top nine ideas will be presented to President-elect Obama's transition team and will move into our final round of voting. The top vote-getter will win transportation to Washington, D.C. and hotel accommodations for the inauguration. Get out and vote!
President-elect Barack Obama is set to formally introduce his energy and climate team in the coming days. His pick for a newly created position overseeing energy, climate and environmental issues is the respected energy and environmental policy expert Carol Browner. Browner also happens to be an On Day One user. In March, we asked Browner what she thinks the next president should do, on day one. One idea was not enough, so she gave us three.
Here is the former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator advising that the next president should sign an exective order re-affirming the role of independent science in policy making. Dare I say she will be in a privileged position to see this idea though?
And remember to vote in our On Day One ideas contest! No registration is required. Just head over the site and pick the ideas you find most compelling.
A career foreign service officer writing on the Life After Jerusalem blog clarifies Mark's and Matt Y.'s posts on President-elect Obama "ordering" political appointments to resign their positions.
[A]ll ambassadors, even career Foreign Service Officers, offer their resignation at the end of an administration. It is true that some are allowed to stay, at least for a little while. This is just more overt than usual.The writer also makes the very valid point that the president should be making foreign policy based on input from the full range of ambassadors -- from Holland and Chad -- and not just the high-profile ones:
But I would hope my President would be wise enough to listen to his Ambassadors from all countries, because crisis can strike anywhere and small countries can have big global impacts.This would further the argument that it is important to have personnel at all posts that are both competent and enjoy access to the president. That may seem like wanting to have my foreign policy cake and eat it too, but it also seems a rather straightforward step toward elevating the influence of "soft power" to the level it should be at.
The On Day One contest begins today! As regular readers will know, On Day One is our sister site, and for the past year has asked users what they think the next president should do, on day one. Our volunteer team of foreign policy experts sorted through the thousands of ideas submitted to the site and picked the top nine ideas in each of On Day One's nine categories---U.S. Image in the World, Peacekeeping, Climate Change, Terrorism, Global Poverty, Iraq, Global Women's Issues, Democracy and Human Rights, and Nuclear Proliferation. There are 81 semifinalists in all. It is now up to you, dear reader, to vote for the winners. The top ideas will be submitted to President-Elect Obama. The top vote getter will win a flight and precious hotel accommodations for the inauguration in Washington, D.C.
Matthew Yglesias links to this item explaining that President-elect Barack Obama has ordered all politically appointed ambassadors to vacate their posts by January 20th. Matt says:
I had always just thought of this is a kind of casual, widely accepted corruption. But recently I did learn the official story as to why this is good practice, namely that an important political supporter or a friend of the president is likely to have a much easier time of getting access to the Oval Office than any mere foreign service officer would. Thus, it's arguably better for the host country to have a political appointee than a career FSO. Therefore, this practice helps build good-will and so forth.This may be true, but it should be pointed out that many ambassadors to posts that require actual trouble-shooting are often career foreign service officers. The United States ambassador to Chad Louis J. Nigro, for example, joined the foreign service in 1980. Is it really more desirable that the Ambassador to say, Holland, have easier access to the Oval Office than say, Mr. Nigiro? I'm doubtful.
Today, the world found out that Susan Rice will be the Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations. What we also found out is that, as U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Rice will be a part of Barack Obama's cabinet, answering the important question of where the UN will rank within the Administration.
From the New York Times:
To reinforce his intention to work more closely with the United Nations after the tensions of President Bush's tenure, Mr. Obama plans to restore the ambassador's post to cabinet rank, as it was under President Bill Clinton, according to Democrats close to the transition.This means that UN issues will be handled at the highest levels of the American Administration, and the Obama team recognizes how crucial the UN is to resolving the growing mountain of transnational issues that will await him at his desk on January 21st. UPDATE: The One Campaign blog has an excellent selection of choice quotes from Susan Rice.