The Next President: Mastering a Daunting Agenda
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20080901faessay87501/richard-holbrooke/the-next-president.html
By Richard Holbrooke, Chair of the Asian Society and former U. S. ambassador to the UN
Reviewed by Ambassador (ret.) Michael Cotter, publisher

In this extensive essay in the September/October issue of Foreign Affairs, Richard Holbrooke provides a broad, yet quite detailed, overview of the international issues that will face the next president. Holbrooke, a former career Foreign Service Officer, is closely identified with the Democratic Party, having served in several State Department positions during the Carter and Clinton Administration, culminating in his service as ambassador to the United Nations from 1999 to 2001. It will therefore come as no surprise that his assessment of the issues and their probable resolution hews quite closely to that of Senator Barack Obama.

After a short introduction, Holbrooke moves on to discuss energy and climate change, criticizing both the Bush administration’s policies and Senator McCain’s support of them. His only mention of economic issues, a very general one, comes here, which is not surprising in an essay undoubtedly written last summer. Holbrooke then contrasts those policy issues on which Obama and McCain agree in general terms (Afghanistan, NATO, Israel, Iraq, and treatment of prisoners) with those on which they disagree (the role of diplomacy, McCain’s “League of Democracies,” the U.N., nuclear nonproliferation), characterizing McCain as taking a “harder” line on all.

The next sections focus on the critical areas of Iraq, Iran, and what Holbrooke calls “the other war,” Afghanistan. Again he is critical of McCain’s positions, supportive of Obama’s, but does not offer policy prescriptions for resolving those difficult issues.

Holbrooke summarizes the host of other outstanding international issues in a section he entitles “An Overflowing Agenda,” covering in a sentence or two Somalia, Bosnia, Cambodia, Darfur, Burma, Tibet, and Zimbabwe. He mentions in passing relations with the Muslim world, acknowledges the Bush administration’s positive policies in Africa, and mentions Brazil and Mexico in his discussion of Latin America.

He makes a useful point in his conclusion, that candidates’ campaign promises in the international arena are often ignored or turned around when the new president faces the challenges of office. Yet he notes in a final sentence, “Whatever their ultimate fate, however, campaign positions are key indicators of the priorities and thinking of each candidate as he approaches the most powerful and difficult job in the world. It is therefore valuable to examine them carefully.”

Apart from its content, the essay is interesting for two reasons. It undoubtedly serves as Holbrooke’s latest shot in a campaign to be named Secretary of State in an Obama administration. During the primary campaign Holbrooke was a prominent foreign policy advisor to Senator Hillary Clinton. His name does not appear on most lists of Senator Obama’s advisors, so he has some ground to make up. Nonetheless, Holbrooke states with confidence what he claims are Obama’s views on several of the key issues. Most notable in this regard is his discussion of the role of diplomacy in solving international problems, an issue on which Obama himself has been noticeably silent.