Lost in all the speculation about the next secretary of state is the degree to which Foggy Bottom will need someone who can put the pieces back together. While Hillary Clinton coasted for much of her term on the good press that comes with being a Clinton, until the last couple of months she was having a decidedly average run as secretary of state. But the Benghazi debacle–which was in large part the result of Clinton’s incompetence and lack of attention–followed by the expected defection of most of our European allies at the UN vote on the Palestinians today, reveals a State Department marked by ineptitude and surprising irrelevance.
To be sure, as the New York Times has thoroughly documented, diplomacy has always been one of President Obama’s more glaring weaknesses. But the well funded, high-profile State Department’s mission is to be the public face of American diplomacy, and should at least be able to keep the support of our allies. But the reported decision by Germany, France, Italy, and Britain to abandon the U.S., Canada, and Israel at the UN today left Israeli diplomats proclaiming: “We lost Europe”–to say nothing of Washington’s inability to prevent Mahmoud Abbas from going forward with this stunt in the first place:
The United States, Israel’s closest ally, mounted an aggressive campaign to head off the General Assembly vote.
In a last-ditch move Wednesday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns made a personal appeal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas promising that President Barack Obama would re-engage as a mediator in 2013 if Abbas abandoned the effort to seek statehood. The Palestinian leader refused, said Abbas aide Saeb Erekat….
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Wednesday that the U.N. vote will not fulfill the goal of independent Palestinian and Israeli states living side by side in peace, which the U.S. strongly supports because that requires direct negotiations.
“We need an environment conducive to that,” she told reporters in Washington. “And we’ve urged both parties to refrain from actions that might in any way make a return to meaningful negotiations that focus on getting to a resolution more difficult.”
I’m not sure who the fact that Clinton’s State Department is falling to pieces benefits, Susan Rice or John Kerry. On the one hand, Rice’s inexperience and tendency to clash with those around her would seem to argue against her being the best choice to fix things at Foggy Bottom. On the other hand, inflicting John Kerry upon the world doesn’t seem likely to win us back any of the goodwill we’re looking for.
Additionally, either one would have the challenge of serving under Obama; it’s notable that when Burns begged Abbas not to do this, and offered a re-engaged Obama in return, Abbas found nothing remotely enticing about the offer.
One more bit of irony about all this: the one political figure in this episode who followed Obama’s recommendations was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu agreed–wisely–not to punish the Palestinian Authority for its UN gambit. And Netanyahu has been offering to negotiate with the Palestinians face to face with no preconditions for some time now, so if and when the rest of the world decides to work with Obama again, Netanyahu will be ready and waiting.
WE? whats this 'we' stuff? No my friend, YOU lost Europe. Israel and the USA are not the same country. For years now you have repeatedly taken the Palestinians behind the shed and done unspeakable things to them in the name of counter-terrorism/self-defense and now everyone knows what really happened. It appears now that you have gotten yourselves into a nice mess and now YOU will have to get out the way and allow the Palestinians to have their own VIABLE state. "We…' Come on!
Nonsense, the Arabs in Palestine can fault no one but themselves for not establishing their own state… Read the PA charters avowed purpose of hate and malevolence to eradicate the Jews before you regurgitate such crap as truth.
oh the perfidious Jews of Zion! n nwe'll put you down in the undecided column then. n nYou may not be aware the government of Israel transferred a few odd millions of dollars to the PA this week before the vote–that's right the Palestinian state such as it is is viable because of …Israel.
At this point, I 'm not certain that race is even an issue anymore. When one group, defined by radical nationalistic impulses, has brought massive violence and oppression against another creating a situation where its own survival can only be accomplished by the total subjugation or annihilation of its opponent, what we have is an untenable situation. To win this fight, my friend, you will have to eliminate the Palestinians from 'Greater Israel'. The frightening thing is that you have the means to do it. Understand that as the dominant group, which has completely subjugated its loud and boastful enemy, you cannot continue to crush these people because they refuse to stop making boastful statements. Just because Hamas will not recognize a Jewish state does not mean that they have the means to eliminate the existing Jewish state. This will not happen and everyone knows this now. To achieve peace, the powerful Jewish state simply needs to allow the Palestinians to have a country. The idea that a militarized Palestinian state with take it upon itself to attack a major world power armed with the deadliest weapons of mass destruction as well as the backing of the most powerful nation in the history of the world (the US) is a ridiculous, and frankly, embarrassing talking point. No one believes this anymore. You should leave those people and their land alone and get on with your lives. Continue to build your country for the sake of your grandchildren and their grandchildren. The cat is out of the bag.
Irrelevant and inept. Exactly right, Seth. Last minute attempts by State to cajole Abbas had absolutely no impact. What happened to all this talk from Obama that he would regain the world's respect for the US, supposedly lost by Bush. A lot of respect shown today.
The fact that Clinton hasn't fallen on her sword should be a clarion call that she has no intention of leaving politics in 2013. Whether or not she's hanging feckless lazy Rice out to dry is secondary.
Speaking of Clinton, who would want to vote for a stringy haired frump for president, or does she intend to check in to one of those make over fat farms before "16" tournament of catastrophies.
” On the other hand, inflicting John Kerry upon the world doesnu2019t seem likely to win us back any of the goodwill weu2019re looking for. “r nr nThere never was any “goodwill” for the US except envy, jealousy and the hope of brown-nosing some dollars.r nDid you really expect the Europeans to side with you when after all the examples of their compliance of NATO principles laid bare their selfish interests?r nThey are hypocrites, and bigots to boot, and far better at selling snake oil than Obama.