Who's Got the Foreign Policy Experience We Need?

It's getting wild out there.

Bill Clinton told voters in Muscatine, Iowa, yesterday that he had "opposed Iraq from the beginning." Earlier this week, Hillary Clinton claimed she was the "face" of US foreign policy throughout the 1990s. Then, Hillary Clinton said Barack Obama would be the least experienced president we've had since World War II.

Huh?

With respect to the first two statements, the historical record speaks for itself. The latter charge does not hold up to scrutiny. When it comes to foreign policy, several post-war presidents, who were governors not Senators, had less experience upon taking office than will Barack Obama. They include the one who must have misspoken yesterday, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and, of course, George W. Bush.

Precisely what foreign policy experience would Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama bring to the Presidency?

The osomotic insights Senator Clinton gained from her time in the White House and her travels abroad can only be beneficial, but they are far from sufficient to qualify one for the Presidency, as surely Betty Ford, Rosalyn Carter, Barbara Bush, and perhaps even Laura Bush would concede. More important is the expertise Clinton has gained in her own right, as a Senator, especially through her service on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Still, that experience did not lead her to the same judgment as Senators Byrd, Kennedy, Levin (then Chairman of the Armed Services committee, or Bob Graham (then Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence) to oppose the Iraq war -- the greatest strategic blunder in a generation - or to vote this Fall against the Kyl-Lieberman amendment, which greased the skids for war with Iran.

Similarly, Barack Obama's service in the Senate, and notably his three years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including as Chairman of the European Affairs Subcommittee, afford him deep insight into national security issues. Working with Sen. Richard Lugar, Obama passed new measures to halt the proliferation of nuclear materials. Having opposed the Iraq war from the start, Obama was the first major candidate to propose a responsible and comprehensive plan to redeploy our forces safely and press Iraqis to achieve the necessary political progress. His Iraq War De-escalation Act introduced in January 2007 was embraced by the Democratic leadership in the Senate and remains their primary legislative vehicle for ending the war. Obama was also the first Senator to introduce legislation to address the risks posed by over-reliance on unaccountable military contractors, like Blackwater.

Obama has stood up against the march to war with Iran. Instead, he is committed to direct diplomacy, without preconditions, and to increasing pressure on Iran, including through his legislation that would allow states to divest their holdings in companies that do business with Iran. Obama has also led Senate efforts to improve U.S. preparedness for an avian flu pandemic, to halt the genocide in Darfur, increase resources to roll-back HIV/AIDS and to bring stability and peace to war-torn Congo.

But for both Clinton and Obama, it's not only service in the U.S. Senate that matters. It is their other professional and life experience as well.

Senator Clinton spent her formative years in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, Illinois, and went on to Wellesley College and Yale Law School. Senator Obama, born of a Kenyan father and Kansan mother, spent his childhood in Jakarta and Hawaii before graduating from Columbia with a degree in International Relations and Harvard Law School, where he was President of the Law Review.

Prior to becoming First Lady, Senator Clinton was a tireless and passionate advocate for children and an accomplished lawyer in public service and private practice. Senator Obama worked as a community organizer on Chicago's South Side. After law school, he shunned a lucrative legal career to practice at a small civil rights law firm and teach constitutional law. He served eight years in the Illinois State Senate where he consistently built bipartisan coalitions to tackle divisive issues such as tax policy and police interrogation techniques.

While their academic and professional paths are not dissimilar, Obama's youth in Indonesia, which Senator Clinton derides, is something very different from Park Ridge.

Those years in Jakarta gave Obama a rare appreciation of the complex and painful post- colonial challenges of South East Asia's giant and the world's largest Muslim country. It afforded him crucial insight into the ways that others see America - ways that too often differ from how we see ourselves. It enabled him to witness first-hand the effects of poverty, political repression, corruption and civil strife - among the most pressing issues of our day. In later years, Obama came to know his Kenyan family, including his grandmother who still lives in a hut on the shores of Lake Victoria. These are no ordinary life experiences for an American president, few of whom have ever lived in the developing world.

Unlike any other candidate for President, Obama is a man of the world and the man for our times. He uniquely embodies the multiple strands of America's heritage. He exemplifies our nation's ability to overcome its tortured history of racial polarization and discrimination. His very election would speak volumes to the world about America's ability to change and grow and learn from past mistakes. At a time when the world is wondering if America even gets that it makes mistakes, Barack Obama personifies the promise of what America can still be.

And belief in that promise is precisely what we need to re-enlist international support to confront unprecedented global security challenges, ranging from terrorism to climate change, pandemic disease to nuclear proliferation. We need a leader who recognizes that we cannot go "back to the future" but we must build a new future born of ambitious vision and of hope not fear.

We need a unifier who will win with a mandate for meaningful change. At this pivotal moment in our history, we need a President with unique life experience, judgment and sensitivity to the rest of the world's aspirations and frustrations. Now is the time for that President who can renew trust in America's ability to lead not only for ourselves but also for the common good.

Comments

[DrVandy]

Ms. Rice,
thank you for laying out with specifics Barack Obama's Foreign Policy qualifications. I have been dismayed by the misinformed and utter twisting of his positions by Hillary Clinton and some of her more rabid supporters. A journalist pointed out this week that experience is a threshold question and not an issue of magnitude. I agree. Barack Obama has as much, if not more experience, having served on the Foreign Relations Committee as most governors. He will make a great president.

[NABNYC]

I've got a better idea. Why don't we reject the Republican and DLC premise that the only job for the national government is to "deal" with foreign countries - by war or by negotiating about whether to have a war. Let's return to another premise, one in which we assume others will act in good faith if we do too. Let's devote some small part of our efforts to becoming a good neighbor, but devote most of our efforts to helping our own people inside our own country.

Why is the focus only on international experience? I would much prefer these people stop their bs-ing about who knows more about Indonesia or Ireland, and start explaining exactly how it is they plan to reinvigorate our economy, how will they create new good-paying jobs for Americans. What on earth do they plan to do about this wave of immigration into the U.S., other than give everyone a license and teach them to drive.

We have so many problems in this country. I want a candidate who cares about the U.S. If they want to go work at the UN, do so. If they want to work for the people of the United States, then let's start putting some effort into explaining what they plan to do for us, right here at home.

[superetendard]

"Those years in Jakarta gave Obama a rare appreciation of the complex and painful post- colonial challenges of South East Asia's giant and the world's largest Muslim country"--Susan Rice

Okay, listen, this exoticization of Obama is being taken a little too far. Obama got Indonesia at 10? and in the space of 6 years? Isn't this rather an extreme over reaction to Bush? Its also rather insulting to Americans, implying that the entire nation and by extention all the Democratic candidates are too insular or innately flawed or intellectually cleft-palated to appreciate other cultures and conduct diplomacy.

Bill Clinton, American born and bred, Southern through and through got the world, and the world embraced him in return. He did not have or need any fancy stories about growing up in Indonesia. His world was his grandfather's grocery store in Arkansas and the injustices he saw and was determined to put right. The world related. Clinton's good old American upbringing has brought him the admiration of much of the world including close friendship with Nelson Mandela. Fancy that, an all American bubba from deepest Arkansas globally appreciated and a personal friend of Mandela.

I'm not sure Obama's wink, wink, "I'm not really that all-American" formula is a winning one. All your average head of state want's to know about the American president in no particular order is : 1) Do you have full control of your nation's military establishment. 2). Do you have full command of your financial mechanisms and can you command respect of the financial sector in a crisis? 3). Do you respect multinational institutions? The rest is icing on the cake. In a world that is rubber necking the sad, slow decline of America and its almighty dollar, whoever the American president is will ulitmately have to represent the interests of America with tact and dignity, regardless of whether they have lived in the rather exotic locales of Park Ridge or Jakarta.

[Grey]

Why is my post, which points out that Dr. Rice is a senior foreign policy adviser for the Obama campaign, is not being posted?

Dr. Rice is certainly eminently qualified to write on these issues, but her partisan take should be identified.

[NotAConspiracyTheorist]

Who says it's either one of these fine people? I am sick and tired of having `pundits' refine down the field for their own convenience. How can you talk about foreign policy experience and not mention that Bill Richardson was-among other things-an ambassador to the UN. Another poster mentioned Biden.

There are more than 2 or 3 people running for President. There is plenty of time to consider everyone. This election is far too important to not consider all of our options.

[AjazHaque]

Neither has any experience of Foreign Policy. For Hillary to claim experience based on Bill Clinton's presidency is not acceptable.

America (the world for that matter) needs a new face, a person with a substantially different way of thinking than Bush Administration. A person who listens, acts wisely and bring peace to the world and not start wars.

Hillary, Obama, Edwards, Richardson and Biden all fit the bill.

[Pdubya]

I realize this is a "Democrat" site, but no GOP has the experience and wisdom?

those who swear to defend the constitution from enemies both foreign and domestic are showing the most support to someone who has exampled upholding it: Ron Paul.

Our constitution is KEY to good foreign relations.

[djarvis]

Excellent blog, Susan. Obama's background is unique and I also think his speaking style is motivating and inspirational. His judgement to speak out against the Iraq war from the beginning is also an important thing to remember. He has said he would be willing to speak without precondition to leaders of countries we disagree with and work with Republicans to get things done for this country. These are all qualities we need in our next President.

[Grey]

Dr. Rice:

Since you're one of Sen. Obama's senior foreign policy advisers, I'll take this blog entry as a mere reaffirmation of your support for him. There is no need for the "analysis" pretense.

[Pdubya]

your enthusiasm for your candidate is cute.

but your article lacks concrete content.

and that is why barack would not be a good choice for international diplomacy - he has no concrete content to offer.

[jimpryor99]

LOL, nice article. I guess only Democrats are running.

[longislandlol]

The world will be in awe of us--with such a cultured president...

[duboisist]

" ... we must build a new future born of ambitious vision and of hope ..."

Dr. Rice,
You have real credentials that qualify you as a foreign affairs expert, so maybe you can educate me.
Sen. Obama worked as a "community organizer," but his suggested urban policy seems to be for young black males to "pull up their pants."
This man, who was abandoned by his father and had an often absentee mother, suggests the best use of nurses and social workers in the inner city is to "teach" the residents "how to parent."
Assuming that elementary school in Jakarta gives Sen. Obama some valuable insight, wouldn't it only be about INDONESIA and wouldn't someone who went from K to 12 in Indonesia be three times as qualified as Sen. Obama?
I'm not sure why you think Sen. Obama has "vision" while Sen. Clinton doesn't, but assuming that you are right, how exactly will Obama's faith based foreign policy work?

[alkamm]

Yes, Hillary and Bill are coming out wildly shooting from the hip at Barack's foreign policy cred. The details and links provided here refute the Clintons' desperate gambits.
I would only add that Edwards, like Obama,also has the ability to think on his feet without triangulating, without focus groups, and with the kind of steady nerves it takes to articulate a vision and a moral passion that can transform our government and its perception in the world.
Once we dispense with the idea that Hillary can win because of Clinton nostalgia, the choice is clearly between Edwards and Obama. They have a quieter, more determined confidence rather than the pose of confidence propped against the fear that people might suspect all their positions are subject to change and likely to be modified whimsically because of situational ethics.

[mawrm]

Wisdom well spoken! Thank you for your service to our nation.