Much discussion has been devoted to the Clinton campaign television ad that asks "who do you want answering the phone" when a global crisis strikes. It's a critically important question -- and a smart campaign tactic.
But too few people have focused on what may be a more important question; who would be the advisors who are calling the President?
In every White House senior staff are almost always aware of a problem and begin to recommend a response prior to the president being informed. The senior staff and cabinet have a responsibility to simultaneously update the president on a situation and also answer the first question the president will ask; "what are our options?"
A president's advisors hold enormous power, and while Hillary Clinton's advisors have long and distinguished track records of success, Senator Obama's team is largely untested and clumsy -- a fact that is revealing itself as the campaign goes on.
Let's look at just two sets of advisors -- economic and foreign policy;
Gene Sperling is Senator Clinton's top economic advisor. He served in the Clinton administration as the president's National Economic Adviser and Director of the National Economic Council. President Clinton has called Sperling "the MVP" of the economic team which created record-high surpluses, record-low poverty rates, the longest economic expansion in history, the lowest unemployment since the early 1970s, and the lowest poverty rates for single mothers, black Americans, and the elderly.
Austan Goolsbee is Senator Obama's top economic advisor. He's a 38 year old University of Chicago professor. Goolsbee also served as a consultant to the Justice Department on internet policy. He is most famous for having told the consul general for the Canadian government that Obama didn't really believe what he saying about NAFTA and that his remarks "should be viewed as more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans."
Now let's look at two key advisors on foreign policy;
Ambassador Richard Holbrooke is often described as Senator Clinton's top foreign policy advisor. Holbrooke has a long and distinguished diplomatic career which began with his service in Vietnam. He served as US Ambassador to the United Nations, US Ambassador to Germany, and ended the war in Bosnia by brokering the Dayton Peace Accords.
Until today, Samantha Power was often described as Obama's most influential foreign policy advisor. Power is a Harvard professor who wrote a truly wonderful and Pulitzer-prize winning book about genocide. Despite being a gifted writer, Power had no government experience except for two years working with Senator Obama. She resigned from the campaign today after calling Senator Clinton a "monster" to a Scottish newspaper. Not exactly artful diplomacy.
With a recession looming, a war in Iraq, a war in Afghanistan and the threat of terrorist attacks... who do you want making the phone call to the President at 3 am?
Posted March 7, 2008 | 07:16 PM (EST)