Opinion: Secretary Christopher on Secretary Clinton
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
| |
| AP Photo/Charles Dharapak |
In the swirl from rumor to hardening assumption that President-elect Barack Obama is about to name Sen. Hillary Clinton as his secretary of State, one person with a unique vantage point on the decision is Los Angeles’ own Warren Christopher, who served as secretary of State in the first Bill Clinton administration.
Friday, he was peppered with questions about the possibility of a Clinton occupying his old office. Here is Secretary Christopher’s response:
Senator Clinton is a naturally gifted diplomat and would be an inspired choice, if she is chosen by President-elect Obama as secretary of State. She took many foreign trips during my time as secretary, leading delegations to China, Pakistan, India, the Balkans, and Latin America. She always prepared carefully before she left, and effectively handled official sessions with leaders as well as large public events. Reports on her travels were uniformly positive, often coming from hard-to-please foreign service officers. Particularly impressive was her leadership of our delegation to the 1995 U.N. conference on women in Beijing, where her memorable speech on human rights evoked a standing ovation.