The Change I was hoping for: Samantha Power as SOS

[TeamJordan23]

I personally would have like Obama going with some new fresh faces. There are so many talented people on the Left and I was hoping some of them would get a chance to finally shine on the national stage. I would have loved to see Samantha Powers as Secretary of State. Inexperienced? Sure

But so was another certain senator from Illinois.

I think at the end of the day competence would have mattered. My only fear with Clinton is that nothing is going to get solved. Just some diplomatic trips here and there, but to get stuff done; maybe a new face would be better for it.

[tabatha]

1. I think Clinton has the credibility to get things done.

[blm]

40. Why? What has she done or advocated that makes you think so?

I scoured her record and found no serious foreign policy issue she has led on as senator.

If you know of one, please share it.

[tabatha]

43. She works hard and is serious about her work.

[blm]

44. Why did she drop healthcare after the first pushback? Why didn't she work to oppose Bush on serious

matters of foreign policy? You cannot show one serious issue she 'worked hard' on as senator, especially on foreign policy.

If she worked hard on an important matter or even on opposing Bush as senator from 2001-2008, please share with us what she worked hard on all that time.

[Honeycombe8]

55. So am I. Can I be SOS? The poster asked you....name her experience, please. nt

[Connie_Corleone]

2. Power. nt

[Fleshdancer]

3. I could support that pick

If anything, it would send a very powerful message to the rest of the world.

on edit: pun not intended :D

[Uzybone]

4. Inexperienced. Inept. Would never be confirmed

Dreamland continues with some folks here.

Obama never said he would appoint only lefties.

[dflprincess]

7. He never said he'd only appoint DLCers either

but he seems to have a weakness for them. Let me know when he appoints someone from the left.

[Uzybone]

9. Be patient

He has only appointed (if you believe leaked media reports) 3 people. Its a bit too early to say the left will be abandoned.

[Salviati]

12. Very true... and another thing I think people are forgetting after the last 8 years...

Is what it will be like to actually have a leader at the top. To me that means it doesn't quite so much matter what Rahm Emmanuel or Hillary Clintons policy stances are, they're not the ones in charge. It only matters how effective they are in getting the job done. It's Barack Obama who's sitting in the oval office, and I'm sure that he'll welcome their input, but when all is said and done, he's the guy making the decisions. I'm sure that both of them were reminded of this before they accepted or will accept the positions.

[blueclown]

38. Inept?

That is the last word I would use to describe Samantha Power.

[knixphan]

39. seconded.

[blueclown]

41. I mean...

Does that fucktard even know who Samantha Power is?

[Uzybone]

60. Yes inept

you fucking idiot. What qualifies her for SoS?

She already proved that she doesn't know how to hold her tongue or speak diplomatically.

[shaniqua6392]

5. I think Clinton will surely get things done.

I trust Obama and he wants Senator Clinton. That is good enough for me.

[blm]

42. Why? What serious foreign policy task did she take on in the senate that she ever completed?

I do recall her speech on senate floor siding with Bush and against Iraq withdrawal in 2006....then Joe lost his primary race and she started to change her rhetoric on Iraq.....leftward.

[ellacott]

6. I've been thinking about her

I was wondering if he would consider bringing her back as an advisor.

[TwilightGardener]

8. She is an impressive woman. I hope he finds room for her somewhere, along with Susan Rice.

[DCBob]

10. It's Samantha Power. (no "s")

Yes, she is great. I suspect she will have a good spot somewhere in the O admin.

[rvablue]

11. I would happily support either Hillary or Samantha for SoS, but

my biggest fear is that Power willl not be given anything...that would be a big disappointment to me...I really like her....and I was a Hillary primary supporter.....I think the hoopla of what was supposed to be an off the record comment during the primary was overblown and I think it would be a HUGE mistake if Obama doesn't include her because of that...hope not...especially after having to swallow Lieberman and his MAJOR transgressions during the campaign yesterday.

[Jim Sagle]

13. Samantha Power is a piece of shit.

[ellacott]

14. Why?

[Jim Sagle]

15. For one thing, she called Hillary a "monster."

Just returning the favor.

[ellacott]

16. I figured this was what you were basing it on

monster/piece of shit. I see, that's hardly comparable but not surprising. This is some Back to the Future stuff, we are transported back to high school.

Amazing

[Posteritatis]

20. You can really tell who's going by the sound bites to judge folks here, no?

I'm wondering if more than five percent of folks waxing wroth whenever Power's name is mentioned have read more than two sentences by her. I don't think she warrants State (though I don't think Clinton does either), but I do think she should be somewhere in the administration, at least in an advisory role. But noooooooo, a single word clearly disqualifies her in some folks' eyes.

[ellacott]

21. It's pretty discouraging

People took this election much too personal and got their feelings get hurt. Politics is rough and rough things are said.

Powers has a great resume and would be an asset to this administraion(or any other).

[Posteritatis]

24. Whether in the admin or not, she's more likely to be heard by it at least

Power had something of a lack of kind words for the Bush administration, but the Bush administration also had an impenetrable criticism shield. I don't think that's the case with this administration, who would be more sympathetic to her views anyway.

[ellacott]

28. Very true

[cottonseed]

61. She had enough integrity to quiet down and leave after saying that.

You should return the favor.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. Still better than Clinton.

If you want to bring back the primaries, there's plenty worse shit that Clinton pulled.

[tekisui]

25. The hell she is!

SO she called Hillary a monster. She is still a great person, and has been fighting the good fight for a very long time.

[blm]

45. People of power who use it to protect the secrecy and privilege of Bushes are HUGE pieces of shit.

.

[SoxFan]

49. OFFS

Samantha Power has done more to raise public awareness of genocide (and Darfur in particular) than almost anyone on the political or academic scene today. She is an accomplished journalist, author, scholar, and advocate.

Oh, but she hurt your feelings by being a big meany towards Hillary.

Nice set of priorities.

[dionysus]

56. aww, she hurt your feewings in the pwimary... banky will make it better;

[Cha]

17. Here's what Samantha Powers is doing now..

<snip> <snip>


"Samantha Power (born September 21, 1970, in Ireland) is an Irish American journalist, writer, and academic. She is currently affiliated with the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Power has been a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and was a senior adviser to U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama until March 2008 when she resigned.

Power was born and raised in Ireland before emigrating to the United States in 1979. She attended Lakeside High School in Atlanta, Georgia, where she was a member of the cross country team and the basketball team. She later graduated from Yale University.

From 1993 to 1996, she worked as a journalist, covering the Yugoslav wars for U.S. News & World Report, The Boston Globe, The Economist, and The New Republic.

When she returned to the United States, she attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 1999. Her first book, A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, grew out of a paper she wrote in law school. The book won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 2003. It offers a survey of the origin of the word genocide, the major genocides of the 20th century, as well as an analysis of some of the underlying reasons for the persistent failure of governments and the international community to collectively identify, recognize and then respond effectively to genocides ranging from the Armenian Genocide to the Rwandan Genocide.

A scholar of foreign policy especially as it relates to human rights, genocide, and AIDS, she is currently the Anna Lindh Professor of Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

"In 2004, Power was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 top scientists and thinkers of that year.<1> In fall 2007, she began writing a regular column for Time. Power appears in Charles Ferguson's 2007 documentary, No End in Sight, which alleges numerous missteps by the Bush administration in the U.S. war in Iraq."

<more>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Power

[Hippo_Tron]

19. Secretary of State usually has held elected or appointed office

Samantha Power would be a great National Security Adviser and then maybe in 4 years she could be Secretary of State. But it's not a position that is given to people who haven't had a government job before.

[Jennicut]

34. She has no experience in an appointed office. I wouldn't choose her as SoS

Some of these people sound great on paper but need some experience first. Obama has a lack of experience so the people around him should have lots.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

22. I know! She would have been great!

[Freddie Stubbs]

23. Diplomats are usually better at speaking 'diplomatically'

[EstimatedProphet]

26. Who?

I rest my case.

[TeamJordan23]

30. People were saying the same thing abot Obama before he started running. nm

[cali]

37. bullshit. Obama was an experienced attorney, legislator, constitutional law

professor and U.S. Senator, and he'd been in the public eye since his speech at the Dem Convention in 2004.

[Posteritatis]

46. In other words, nearly nobody knew who he was until four years ago

And yet only two years after that the guy was campaigning for president.

While I don't think she's got the corridors-of-power experience to take a shot at SoS, I would rather safely guess that Power was vastly, vastly better known before the DNC speech than Obama was, and I'd be right to do so.

[EstimatedProphet]

54. Maybe they were. The point still stands.

Obama is known now because he became known. Part of why he chose Clinton is because she is a recognizeable name that he believes will be capable. No one in mainstream America has heard of Samantha Power. So he's putting in a known quantity as Sos, rather than an unknown, in part because name recognition will soothe people a little bit.

[Hutzpa]

27. I don't know why Obama ignored Samantha Powers

since she made that gaffe i have not heard about her, whats up with that???

She is suppose to be brilliant and smart with new ideas.

[Posteritatis]

29. I think she was keeping her distance on purpose (nt)

[otohara]

31. She'd Scare The Shit Out of Senate Dems

and Obama wouldn't want to rock the boat of bipartisanship by appointing a strong, independent, extremely opinionated woman. Shit, look how fast he tossed her under the bus.

[kenziemom06]

32. I would LOVE to see her

in some capacity in the Obama adminstration. She is an amazing academic and author -- we need more of those in government.

[Sebastian Doyle]

33. I wouldn't be surprised if Samantha Power is on the foreign policy team somewhere.

But given the damage done by Bush/PNAC, we need Bill Richardson's experience and skills as SOS right now.

[Metric System]

35. I think I would rather see Kerry or Richardson as SOS rather than her, if anything because they have

more name recognition and value. I don't think Power has enough gravitas to be the official face of the US abroad (which isn't to say she's not qualified for the position). That may sound superficial but when the US is trying to repair relationships around the world, I think it's best if the SOS is someone of note.

[cali]

36. Power is not qualified to be SoS. Period

I love her, but what competence has she demonstrated? She hasn't the background to be an effective SoS.

god I hate stupid.

[mmonk]

47. Samantha Power was one of the things that initially attracted me

to the Obama camp. Damn shame the catalyst of my actions is gone.

[JoFerret]

48. Are you serious?

Or just indulging in wishful thinking. She is great. But the chances of her getting that job were/ are close to zero.

[SoxFan]

50. UN Ambassador

That's a better fit.

It would give Power a chance to raise her profile and become more experienced as a senior foreign policy leader, and it would provide her with a powerful bully pulpit to work on issues related to genocide.

[SoxFan]

51. UN Ambassador

That's a better fit.

It would give Power a chance to raise her profile and become more experienced as a senior foreign policy leader, and it would provide her with a powerful bully pulpit to work on issues related to genocide.

And no, I do not give a rat's ass if it hurts Hillary's feelings.

[Sensitivity]

52. She would not accept SoS since she is much less qualified that other candidates. She has integrity.

[blm]

57. True, but in a State Dept. position she can easily GAIN the experience quickly.

I really like her. She actually EARNED my trust.

[stillcool]

53. I've seen her on Charlie Rose..

a couple of times, and she is very impressive. I don't know what kind of negotiating skills she has, but she certainly has the knowledge. It seems to me the SOS job is whatever the President wants it to be.

[LisaM]

58. Is Samantha Power a US citizen?

Just curious. She may well be, but I didn't see anything that referenced her citizenship.

[ecstatic]

59. I think that would piss off Hillary supporters too much. Not a good move, IMO nt