About the Book
For nearly twenty years, Aaron David Miller has played a central role in U.S. efforts to broker Arab-Israeli peace. His position as an advisor to presidents, secretaries of state, and national security advisors has given him a unique perspective on a problem that American leaders have wrestled with for more than half a century. Read more >
About the Author
Secretary of State Qualities? News media asks Miller what it takes to fill the role.
As buzz abounds that Hillary Clinton will be named Secretary of State by President-Elect Obama, news sources have turned this week to Aaron David Miller, who has advised six secretaries of state.
In Thomas Friedman’s Op-Ed New York Times piece — “It takes America’s friends and adversaries about five minutes to figure out who really speaks for the White House and who doesn’t,” wrote Aaron D. Miller, a former State Department Middle East adviser and the author of The Much Too Promised Land. “If a secretary of state falls into the latter category, he or she will have little chance of doing effective diplomacy on a big issue. More likely, they’ll be played like a finely tuned violin or simply taken for granted.”
On NPR’s “All Things Considered” — “Miller says that the most effective secretaries have to be close to the president they serve and they have to be good negotiators….’When a secretary of state walks in a room, you want people on the edge of their seats, and [Hillary Clinton] clearly has that,’ Miller says. ‘I mean, she fills up and lights up a room, there’s no question about it. And second, I believe she’s tough enough.’”
In the Washington Post — “[Clinton] has a strong physical and intellectual presence that she can project, and she’s plenty tough…. What we don’t know is: Does she have the negotiator’s mind-set? And we know she doesn’t yet have the kind of trust and confidence of the president that’s critically important.”
TAGS: All Things Considered, Hillary Clinton, New York Times, NPR, secretary of state, Thomas Friedman, Washington Post
Comments
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I was so impressed with your talk on television this month.
I can see that you are doing everything possible to learn from life.
I am wondering if the talk will air again and on what channel.
Thank you... for your insight and wisdom.
Laurette
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