Bloggers Split On National Security Team

By MARY GILBERT

President-elect Barack Obama presented his new foreign policy team at a press conference this morning. Most of his selections had been anticipated for the last week or so, but the blogs are abuzz with thoughts on what these picks mean for Obama's approach to international issues.

Ben Smith notes that choosing Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of State "says as much about Obama's strategic judgment and his temperament as anything else he's done. It says that he's confident he can control the Clintons."

The American Spectator's Philip Klein points out the differences between Obama and Clinton on foreign policy in the primary race. "One of two things happened" since then, he speculates. "Either Clinton has embraced Obama's vision for fundamental change, or Obama has succumbed to 'conventional Washington thinking.'"

Meanwhile, Michelle Malkin offers her "ode" to Clinton on the eve of "Hillmas."

Matthew Yglesias reveals that "folks I know who work on UN issues were thrilled" with Obama's selection of Susan Rice as U.S. ambassador to the world body. "Rice has a longstanding relationship with the President-Elect and sending a close adviser to Turtle Bay signals an intention to upgrade the priority given to that suite of issues. It also makes it much more likely that our UN Ambassador will be able to get the White House's attention than was the case in the Bush years."

But Claudia Rosett feels that elevating Rice's post to the Cabinet level "is a trainwreck waiting to happen -- the main question being whether, when the train goes off the rails, Rice will be trying to drive the UN engine, or hanging on for dear life to the caboose."

Steve Clemons thinks that Clinton is "going to push women's rights, democracy, human rights, poverty reduction and the like -- but I think she is going to be party to a realist-tilting, crafty Obama-led, Bob Gates-designed, Clinton-out-front process to get a strategic shift in U.S. foreign policy," and he "applaud[s] that." Previously, Clemons laid out "the kind of leaps" he believes Gates wants to make in the Middle East and projected that "National Security Advisor-to-be Jim Jones is on the same page as Gates -- and the two of them will constitute a considerably strong axis of power inside the Obama White House."

Firedoglake's Christy Hardin Smith sums up the picks: "Gates at DOD, anchors the Iraq mess as Bush's legacy; Jones as national security advisor holds his own with substantial experience; and Clinton at State gives instant policy cache." Acknowledging that she does not expect to agree with all of the policies this group puts forth, she concludes: "But to have a president who is actively engaged, and intellectually sure enough to staff up with strong personalities who can challenge each other -- and him? Good lord, that's a nice change of pace."

TalkLeft's Jeralyn also believes the new slate is "a welcome change from the Bush Administration -- and in thinking about who these appointees would be had" John McCain "been elected, I'll say we did okay with this team."