Kunin: Clinton perfect for post
Toolbox
By DANIEL BARLOW Vermont Press Bureau - Published: November 30, 2008
MONTPELIER – She's perfect for the job.
When former Vermont Gov. Madeleine Kunin first heard speculation this month that one of her former bosses – New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, the one-time Democratic challenger for president – was in the running for secretary of state, that's what flashed across her mind.
And while Clinton's nomination to that job has not yet been formally announced – although it has been all-but confirmed to the national media by sources close to the Clinton and President-elect Barack Obama's camps – fans of the former first lady are already giving their thumbs up.
"I'm really delighted with the appointment," said Kunin, who served as deputy secretary of education for four years during the Clinton administration. "It's the right job for her and she'll do a good job for him. It's a win-win situation."
In Vermont's March presidential primary this year, Clinton received nearly 59,000 votes (Obama won that race here in the state with about 91,000 votes) and the presidential contender even sent her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, to the state to fire up her supporters.
And while many of them likely voted for Obama in the general election – the media was buzzing for months about frustrated Clinton supporters who threatened to support Republican John McCain – the move to place the former First Lady in the job held now by Condoleezza Rice in the President Bush's administration is seen as the final nail in the coffin in that divide between the camps.
Ellen McCulloch-Lovell has been the president of Marlboro College for four years. But before that she was a high-ranking staff member in the Clinton administration, working as deputy chief of staff to then-First Lady Hillary Clinton and deputy assistant to then-President William Clinton.
McCulloch-Lovell was an early supporter of Clinton's presidential bid this year and at first she wondered why she would give up her New York senate seat to serve in an Obama White House. But she said she quickly realized the benefits that would come with this new position.
"She will become the chief diplomat for the United States," McCulloch-Lovell said. "It's a wonderful move and I'm so glad that they worked this out. It really suits her set of skills."
Those skills, according to McCulloch-Lovell, include her familiarity with the United States' foreign policy and many of the major international players on the world stage. Clinton is a natural-born diplomat, McCulloch-Lovell added, who can stand toe-to-toe with the world's best leaders and the world's worst dictators.
"She already knows a large number of the people she will be speaking with," McCulloch-Lovell said. "And they already know and respect her."
Kunin, who penned a book released this year on women's rising role in local and national politics, blogged this week at the Chelsea Green and Huffington Post Web sites that Clinton's new role as secretary of state would be a "strong voice for women around the world."
"My first insight into Sen. Clinton's diplomatic power was at the World Conference in Beijing when thousands of women cheered when she announced, 'Human Rights are Women's Rights and Women's Rights are Human Rights,'" Kunin wrote. "She fervently believes these words must apply to women and men all over the world."
Clinton's appointment to this top position also sends a signal that Obama is open to having a diverse gender cabinet, Kunin said this week. Many of his major appointments so far have been men, she said, with the exception of Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as secretary of Homeland Security, along with a few others.
"I'm certainly not asking him to appoint women to his cabinet just because," Kunin said. "But there are lots of talented and capable women able to do these jobs just as well as their male counterparts."
Topping Clinton's priority list as the country's new secretary of state includes the war-torn country of Afghanistan and its neighbor, Pakistan. Other problem areas include continuing genocide in Africa and the former Soviet Union flexing its military muscles.
McCulloch-Lovell agreed that resolving conflicts in the Middle East should be Clinton's top priority when she begins working in January.
"I think she offers an opportunity to make real progress there," she said.
Contact Daniel Barlow at Daniel.Barlow@timesargus.com.
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