Organizing for America | Wesley Stagg's Blog: Secretary of State Selection

Secretary of State Selection

By Wesley from Chillicothe, MO - Nov 17th, 2008 at 11:45 am EST

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Tags: Cabinet, Cabinet picks, Foriegn Policy, Obama, transition

I learned Sunday that the prevalent political talk is that President Elect Obama may be thinking seriously of naming Hillary Clinton as Secretary Of State. If he does I believe it will prove to be his first major mistake.

I have nothing against Mrs. Clinton. The simple reality is that given the current situation in the world and the counties we must influence diplomatically, any woman will not serve our county’s interest effectively. The reason is basic realism, not sexism. Over the next period of several, if not many years we must be engaged in seeking solutions at the highest levels with many troubled nations, most of whom are Muslim by nature or fiercely patriarchal. Arabic, Oriental, and Muslim cultures do not esteem women as leaders and authority figures and will not recognize any woman as an equal to their male political and religious leaders. If we send a woman to negotiate with them they will be polite, but resistant, if not offended.

One of the mistakes made by our current administration was not understanding, nor caring about the cultural differences between our society and that of the people we sought to enlighten to the benefits of a democratic republic form of governance. Forcing leaders of these foreign nations to entertain a female negotiator who represents our nation and our President, will undoubtedly feel somewhat belittling to them, and us, or possibly insulting and in some cases repugnant. It will also signal to them that we still do not understand them and care nothing about their culture and society, though they are far more ancient than ours, and we remain in their eyes an arrogant, insensitive bully of a nation, which is not to be trusted as an honorable friend.

A man with a reputation of being strong, but fair-minded with acceptable credentials and negotiating talent would much better serve President Elect Obama and our country in the coming administration. Undoubtedly, many with agendas, which put goals other than our success as a country on the world stage will disagree, but history will make its own judgments.

I believe this insight to be true and worthy of consideration. I think the country would benefit from a discussion of the issue either publicly, or within the President Elect’s council. Hopefully before a selection is finalized.

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