After the often bitter battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, President Obama's naming of Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state was the most prominent example of him channeling his presidential predecessor from Illinois in creating a Lincoln-like "team of rivals." In doing so he showed he has the confidence to not only surround himself with those who may disagree, but also those who may share -- or steal -- the spotlight.
Clinton seems to have picked up the cue in naming Richard Holbrooke and George Mitchell as special envoys on her first full day on the job. While neither are rivals, both may obscure the secretary of state, and in the case of Holbrooke, who will be the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, he will have direct access not only to Clinton, but the president, the Pentagon and the National Security Agency.
George Mitchell will have a more direct reporting role as special envoy for Arab-Israeli affairs. But with seemingly nothing direct in the Byzantine entanglement of Middle East alliances, Mitchell's legendary patience -- formed as Senate majority leader and tested while negotiating for peace in Northern Ireland -- will be needed.
Clinton's show of confidence is a sign that she has the full confidence of Obama, as he makes good on his campaign rhetoric of re-establishing diplomacy as an integral instrument in protecting and projecting America's foreign policy and national security objectives.
The war in Gaza has kept the focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But the Obama administration may have indicated that the thorny Pakistan problem is actually an equal, if not higher, foreign policy priority by giving Holbrooke -- who supported Clinton in the primaries and might have been named secretary of state himself had she won -- the Pakistan portfolio. With a porous border with Afghanistan and a hostile one with India -- let alone an internal battle between secular and fundamentalist forces -- it may be the only assignment that may make Middle East peace seem a rational process.
For both, progress on peace will be tough. But after years of reported internal infighting between the departments of State and Defense during the Bush administration, at least for now the diplomatic efforts are focused from, not within, the new administration.
