Obama names national security team
Posted: Monday, December 01, 2008 2:55 PM by Carrie Dann
From NBC's Athena Jones
CHICAGO -- It's the closest thing to the “Dream Ticket” that supporters of former rivals
Barack Obama and
Hillary Clinton are going to get.
In his fifth post-election press conference, the president-elect officially nominated the New York senator to serve as his secretary of state, a key Cabinet position at a time when the country is facing foreign policy challenges on several fronts.
He also named Gen. James Jones to be national security advisor, Robert Gates to stay on as defense secretary, Dr. Susan Rice as ambassador to the United Nations, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as secretary of homeland security and Eric Holder as attorney general. Obama said he hoped the team members would be confirmed quickly.
After a long primary campaign during which their camps traded harsh criticism of one another on foreign policy matters, some questioned the president-elect’s choice of his former opponent, as well as other big personalities who may disagree with him on important national security issues. During the primary, Clinton stridently criticized Obama’s willingness to negotiate with hostile leaders like Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad without preconditions, and Obama’s team questioned the extent of Clinton’s relevant foreign policy experience.
But Obama said this morning that he looks forward to hearing “strong opinions” from within his foreign policy brain trust. “I am very confident that each of these individuals are not going to be leaving the outstanding work that they are currently doing if they weren't convinced that they could work as an effective team,” he said. “I assembled this team because I'm a strong believer in strong personalities and strong opinions. I think that's how the best decisions are made.”
Obama, who walked out of the room arm in arm with Clinton at the end of the event, called his former rival “an American of tremendous stature who will have my complete confidence” and who would command respect in every world capital.
When she briefly took the podium, Clinton thanked New Yorkers for sending her to the Senate and said that while it would be difficult to leave, she felt the best way to serve the country was to join Obama’s team.
“America cannot solve these crises without the world and the world cannot solve them without America,” she said. “By electing Obama our next president, the American people have demanded not just a new direction at home, but a new effort to renew America’s standing in the world as a force for positive change.”
Gates said he was honored to be asked to continue to serve a Pentagon chief at a time when the country was engaged in two wars, suggesting that it was his duty to do so.
Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, who traveled with Obama to the Middle East in July, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued statements of support for the president-elect’s national security team, while New York Gov. David Paterson and former Pres. Bill Clinton issued statements hailing Sen. Clinton, with the former president saying he was “deeply proud” that his wife was selected to head the State Department.
Among the flurry of press releases sent in reaction to the cabinet appointments were a few disappointed voices. Christopher Preble, the director of foreign policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, criticized the president-elect for selecting people who supported the war in Iraq and saying Obama had “has apparently decided that experience trumps change.” The Republican National Committee was quick to remind reporters of the rancor between Obama and Clinton earlier this year, sending out a greatest-hits list of the foreign policy barbs exchanged by the two candidates during the primary race.
During the roughly 15-minute Q+A that followed the long-anticipated announcements, Obama declined to answer directly a question about whether India had a right to go after terrorists even if on Pakistani soil, but said he believed India had a right to protect itself, that he expected the world community would feel the same way and that he expected Pakistan to cooperate with investigation into the Mumbai attacks.
He repeated a line he used often during the campaign, saying he would be giving Gates and the military a new mission upon taking office, to end the war in Iraq responsibly, ensure a successful transition to Iraqi control and to focus on the growing threats in Afghanistan. He said the Status of Forces agreement approved by the Iraqis - which sets the end of 2011 as the date by which all American troops must be out of the country -- "points us in right direction” and that the 16-month time table he spoke about during the campaign was the “right timeframe."
