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Record, The (Hackensack, NJ)N.J. leaders praise Obama's pick of Clinton
December 2, 2008 Hillary Clinton's selection Monday to be secretary of state shows that she and President-elect Barack Obama can bury their past rivalry to put national interests first, New Jersey leaders and activists said. |
| "It's terrific they're going to be working together," said Caren Z. Turner of Tenafly, an ardent Clinton supporter in the presidential race who initially resisted Clinton's call to unite behind Obama.
"We have serious, serious problems and Democrats, Republicans and those in the middle of the road all need to pull together," she said. One anti-war activist from Teaneck who volunteered for Obama in the campaign was troubled, however, by the choice of Clinton and the reappointment of current Defense Secretary Robert Gates. "It worries me," said Paula Rogovin, an organizer of the weekly vigil against the Iraq war outside the Teaneck Road Armory. "She supported the war for quite a long time. … I had hoped he would appoint some people who were not supporters of the war." But former Gov. Thomas H. Kean, a Republican who served as chairman of the 9/11 Commission, said Clinton is well-qualified to run the State Department. "She's internationally known, and she's a figure respected around the world," Kean said. "I think she's got good judgment, and I think she'll advise Obama well in an area where he's weak." Kean also said Obama showed courage picking Clinton. "She's going to have very strong opinions of her own, and many presidents would not be strong enough to want somebody like that as one of their top three appointments. They'd rather have somebody they're sure they can control," Kean said. Clinton's selection means three of the last four secretaries of state were woman, and that's significant considering there was a time when many argued a woman would not be taken seriously by leaders of some countries, said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Woman in Politics at Rutgers University. "It's always important to have those firsts, but when you've gotten to the point when there's seconds and thirds coming, we know we make inroads and changed perceptions of women in leadership," Walsh said. North Jersey Democrats in Congress were confident Clinton would not upstage Obama. "She'll be loyal," said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson. "She's going to be the person [Obama] can rely on for an objective viewpoint." Sen. Bob Menendez, who was a national co-chairman of Clinton's campaign, said Clinton was a "supportive and powerful team player" for Obama after losing the fight for the nomination. "She did everything she was asked in the general election," said Menendez, D-N.J. Menendez and Pascrell said Clinton brings unique experience to the State Department after serving eight years as first lady followed by eight years in the Senate. "Regardless of what people say, when you're the wife of the president, you know what's going on," Pascrell said. "She has backbone and can look [Russian leader Vladimir] Putin in the eye and stare him down. I've seen her do it with political leaders, and she's not going to lose any of those characteristics." Menendez said the knowledge of the military that Clinton gained as a member of the Armed Services Committee gives her a better grasp of how government uses the "soft power" of diplomacy as well as military force to achieve national goals. "If you read the speeches Obama has given and the answers he's given about U.S. foreign policy, he believes we need a robust diplomatic corps," Menendez said, repeating Obama's criticism that the government has more personnel in military marching bands than the foreign service. "There's an understanding, even by the generals I talked to when I visited Afghanistan in August, that we need to be talking about using development assistance in terms of winning hearts and minds. That gives Hillary, who has that same view, a very heightened portfolio," he said. Diplomacy was shortchanged in the past eight years under President Bush, said Clay Constantinou, a former ambassador from Colts Neck and former dean of Seton Hall University's school for diplomats. "I'm optimistic that the entire team of President-elect Obama, and now including Hillary, understands and will use diplomacy to its full extent," Constantinou said. *** |