How to be secretary of state

I'm a great believer in the gardening analogy. If you're gardening and you go away for six months, it's a mess. You have to pull weeds when they're small and keep track of things. The same is true in diplomacy. You've got countries of various shades of friendliness and enmity around the world, and you have to garden. ...

Senator Clinton wants to come into office having a commitment from the president and an understanding with members of Congress that our diplomatic capability has to be built up sharply. We have to have the budget to expand the Foreign Service, to take in more new recruits. We should also look at hiring back people who retired recently from the Foreign Service. You bring people in and train them and give them experience. They get into their late 40s and early 50s, and then they leave at the height of their powers. That doesn't make any sense. ...

As for priorities, there are plenty of them. If you take the attitude you'll only work on things with a good probability of success, well, you can't do that. You have to work on possibilities. ... You make life a little better, and gradually something may emerge.

You must make sure you have an understanding with the president that he is going to protect your backside. You cannot be successful unless you have a president who will support you, protect you and defend you, both internationally and domestically. You need to have a clear understanding with the president that you are his principal foreign-policy spokesman, formulator and implementer. There cannot be discordant voices on foreign policy. ... In public, a secretary of State should be as close to a clone of the president as possible. That doesn't mean you don't tell him in private when you disagree.

I think it's important for Senator Clinton to tackle the Arab-Israeli issue early. I happen to believe that both her husband and President George W. Bush waited too long. ... I think the stars are right. ...

It also will be important to rebuild the consensus in this country for free trade. ... It's so easy to be against free trade when times are tough. But anyone who has studied the issue knows free trade creates more economic winners than losers, and that creates jobs and economic growth.

The No. 1 priority needs to be to try to restore America's reputation abroad. It is a task that cannot be done overnight, but Secretary Clinton's widely admired presence will be an important sign of commitment.

There are several initial steps Senator Clinton can take. First of all, join the leadership to close Guantanamo and deal with the detainees in the U.S. justice system. Second, outlaw torture by all U.S. agencies, and that includes waterboarding. And third, the United States should take the lead in developing a climate-change proposal to replace Kyoto. We cannot hang back with a dog-in-the-manger position. If all of this is done early, it will send a powerful signal abroad.

The thing that is most difficult is setting priorities. You want to do everything. You think, "I have the job for a limited period of time, and there is so much to do." ...Yet the urgent often blocks out the important. ... So it is critical to put together a team within the department using the best Foreign Service officers, and bringing different groups together to provide support. ...

I think there are advantages to being a woman secretary of state. A lot of diplomacy is being able to put yourself in the other person's shoes. Frankly, I think women are better at that. We are better listeners, and there has to be a lot of listening in diplomacy. I was able to develop good personal relationships and to speak frankly. I had a standard line I used: "I have come a long way, so I must be frank." ...

There is no question that it is an amazing job. ... You have to have respect for the people you are dealing with, and you have to understand that they, too, are speaking on behalf of their countries. Everyone is representing their national interests. The great part about diplomacy, however, is that often national interests coincide. So the goal is to look for common ground.

There will be [policy issues] you inherit, like Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East, India-Pakistan, and I guarantee you there will be new ones, too. They will take an enormous amount of time and energy, and you have to be ready for that.