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Who was the best Secretary of State of the United States in the 21th century?

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  • Madeleine Albright

    Votes: 5 21.7%

  • Colin Powell

    Votes: 5 21.7%

  • Condoleezza Rice

    Votes: 10 43.5%

  • Hillary Rodham Clinton

    Votes: 2 8.7%

  • John Kerry

    Votes: 1 4.3%
  • Total voters
    23
MMC said:
Well she did have her role in Libya.....and she was the one to get BO to cross the line he didn't want to at the time. But then Johnny Quest McCain, The Neo Cons, and the French turned up the Heat and the Pressure on him.


obama_sarkozy_girl_steps.jpg



Which you know.....BO can't handle to much when Jarret isn't around.
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Pictures can be deceiving.

 
MMC said:
Yeah sure PB.....BO was watching his footing. :roll: Lets hope they don't give that Guy a real reporters job. :shock:
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No, he wanted to find the black lady's hand so he could help her down.

Isn't Google wonderful? I googled your picture and the video was the first hit I got.
 
pbrauer said:
No, he wanted to find the black lady's hand so he could help her down.

Isn't Google wonderful? I googled your picture and the video was the first hit I got.
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Yeah, still looks that direction before he even moves. Body language.....isn't it great that humans can only react in certain ways.
 
Sherman123 said:
I think John Kerry has had one of the most difficult jobs considering he's had to circumvent a recalcitrant and fearful administration to be effective. The Syria hearings were a good example of that. Overall I think he's probably been the most effective Secretary of State, and one of the most challenged, that we've had in a long while. I think Condoleezza Rice wasn't as effective nor was she as necessary given the strength of support she had from the administration and how her efforts were often secondary to ongoing policy from the administration. Similarly I think Clinton was competent but I don't think she was that severely challenged nor was she as aggressive as Kerry in pursuing policy aims.
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Lololol !!
 
Fearandloathing said:
They're getting they're centuries mixed up. The 21st century did not start until 2001....

1900 to 1999 was the 20th century as in 20th Century Films....
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eusa_shhh.gif
They will think you are telling them that they have been brainwashed. :2razz:

 
pbrauer said:
Pictures can be deceiving.

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He checked it and more power to him.

I would check that. Sarcozy is The Man.

Really, what is the issue here? Obama is a middle aged man with a libido like everyone else save Stephen Harper of Canada. Frankly I suspect this pick is keeping his number 'up'.....


Americans are hypocrites on sex, show a nipple at a football game and the world has to stop, while the rest of the world laughs and heads to the beach where women go topless.

His eye wandered to beauty....frankly that's one of the more honest things he's done, if he did do it.

The most controversial prime minister this country has ever had was Pierre Trudeau who. when single, got more ass than a bicycle seat and we were proud of him...
 
None of the above on the poll list though Condi was the best of that group. If we can go back to the 20th Century, I would go with Henry Kissinger I think. I believe he is the most knowledgeable and had the toughest job as Secretary of State and managed to negotiate us out of the Vietnam War and manage really dicey relations with Red China et al. George Marshall is right up there too as the Secretary of State who was instrumental in the post WWII negotiations to establish peaceful terms and policies so that we could return autonomy to Germany, Italy, Japan et al.
 
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AlbqOwl said:
None of the above on the poll list though Condi was the best of that group. I would go with Henry Kissinger I think. I believe he is the most knowledgeable and had the toughest job as Secretary of State and managed to negotiate us out of the Vietnam War and manage really dicey relations with Red China et al. George Marshall is right up there too as the Secretary of State who was instrumental in the post WWII negotiations to establish peaceful terms and policies so that we could return autonomy to Germany, Italy, Japan et al.
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I can't fault that in any way.....
 
None of those people stand out in my mind. The only person that I think was a good Secretary of State was James Baker. I wish someone like that was running for President.
 
Fearandloathing said:
I can't fault that in any way.....
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I think I erred though saying 'none-of-the above' because I think hands down Condi was superior to the others in the 21st century. She did some amazing work negotiating agreements between Palestinians and Israelis and other sticky wicket issues during her tenure as Secretary of State. If the others had anywhere near her knowledge and skills, along with a President with a clue, I think we would be much better off now. After thinking it through, I went back and checked her on the poll.
 
skq said:
No, all of this people were Secretary of Defense in the 21st Century.
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Madeline Albright was Clinton's Secretary of State and was prior to 2000.
 
AlbqOwl said:
I think I erred though saying 'none-of-the above' because I think hands down Condi was superior to the others in the 21st century. She did some amazing work negotiating agreements between Palestinians and Israelis and other sticky wicket issues during her tenure as Secretary of State. If the others had anywhere near her knowledge and skills, along with a President with a clue, I think we would be much better off now. After thinking it through, I went back and checked her on the poll.
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I agree. I believe her contribution in assembling the coalition for Afghanistan has been overshadowed by the vicious politics that have ensued...as has been much of her work because of the deliberate connotation of "Bush" as responsible for every Obama ill from Iraq to acne.

I do swear that Benjamin Franklin could be named postmaster general in the Bush administration and be made into a hopeless loser by the Obama image making machine
 
AlbqOwl said:
I think I erred though saying 'none-of-the above' because I think hands down Condi was superior to the others in the 21st century. She did some amazing work negotiating agreements between Palestinians and Israelis and other sticky wicket issues during her tenure as Secretary of State. If the others had anywhere near her knowledge and skills, along with a President with a clue, I think we would be much better off now. After thinking it through, I went back and checked her on the poll.
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Plus she had a lot Cheney and Rumsfield to deal with.....and not like Biden in the gaff and clumsy sense either.
 
Fearandloathing said:
I agree. I believe her contribution in assembling the coalition for Afghanistan has been overshadowed by the vicious politics that have ensued...as has been much of her work because of the deliberate connotation of "Bush" as responsible for every Obama ill from Iraq to acne.

I do swear that Benjamin Franklin could be named postmaster general in the Bush administration and be made into a hopeless loser by the Obama image making machine
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Some of her best work was in negotiating sufficient peace between the Israelis and Palestinians to convince Israel to withdraw from Gaza and similar type compromises and she managed to do it without alienating either group or being conciliatory to terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezzbolah. The lady has some major skills and sufficient intelligence to know how to use them.
 
MMC said:
Plus she had a lot Cheney and Rumsfield to deal with.....and not like Biden in the gaff and clumsy sense either.
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There is some truth to this too. I have some close friends and a relative working in the Pentagon and they have told me what a relief everybody felt there when Bush defense people took over. The Clinton administration's people working with Defense were ignorant and approached everything with a kindergarten mentality that was extremely frustrating to experienced, knowledgeable defense people. They were very happy getting some adults back into the program. No idea what they think of the Obama administration--I think they are afraid to say anything--but since they aren't saying anything complimentary and most are trying to get transferred somewhere else, I can guess. And it is true that there is a lot of overlap between State and Defense.

And when you compare Condi Rice's track record as Secretary of State and the numerous successes she can put on her resume and the much better ME relations we had during her tenure, and when you can point to essentially no noteworthy accomplishments whatsoever among the others, Condi was really really good. Madeline Albright was imminently qualified for the position too, but she managed to tick a lot of folks off and can't really point to anything significant that she accomplished. I do remember when she was on her way out that she was urging the next administration to be sure that Saddam destroyed his remaining WMD before there was any talk of lifting the sanctions.
 
AlbqOwl said:
There is some truth to this too. I have some close friends and a relative working in the Pentagon and they have told me what a relief everybody felt there when Bush defense people took over. The Clinton administration's people working with Defense were ignorant and approached everything with a kindergarten mentality that was extremely frustrating to experienced, knowledgeable defense people. They were very happy getting some adults back into the program. No idea what they think of the Obama administration--I think they are afraid to say anything--but since they aren't saying anything complimentary and most are trying to get transferred somewhere else, I can guess. And it is true that there is a lot of overlap between State and Defense.

And when you compare Condi Rice's track record as Secretary of State and the numerous successes she can put on her resume and the much better ME relations we had during her tenure, and when you can point to essentially no noteworthy accomplishments whatsoever among the others, Condi was really really good. Madeline Albright was imminently qualified for the position too, but she managed to tick a lot of folks off and can't really point to anything significant that she accomplished. I do remember when she was on her way out that she was urging the next administration to be sure that Saddam destroyed his remaining WMD before there was any talk of lifting the sanctions.
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Sigh. I need to amend a previous statement again--I think senioritis is running on overdrive this morning. . . .

I said compared to Condi, NONE of the others had any noteworthy successes they can point to on their resumes as Secretary of State. That is pretty much true of Albright and absolutely true of Clinton and Kerry so far has been a national embarrassment. But I have to give Colin Powell props for his leadership during 9/11 and helping handle necessary diplomatic negotiations as we geared up to retaliate against al Qaida and the Taliban--Powell was adamant we had to do that. And he was probably the most instrumental player in negotiations that averted an almost certain shooting war between Pakistan and India early in the Bush administration. So he wasn't a complete bust. But I do think Condi out shined him.
 
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