John Kerry's high-wire diplomacy, Has the new secretary of State eclipsed Hillary Clinton.. [View all]
on the world stage.
in 10 months, Kerry has embarked on a whirlwind of diplomacy. He helped conclude an interim deal with Iran that puts a ceiling on Tehran's nuclear enrichment. He launched new Israeli-Palestinian peace talks with the goal of producing a deal next year. And he secured a date for negotiations to end the war in Syria, although it's still not certain who will show up.
"The naysayers are wrong to call peace in this region an impossible goal," Kerry said in Jerusalem on Friday, at the end of his latest dash through the Middle East. "It always seems impossible until it's done."
Actually, the naysayers say a lot more than that. For one thing, they note, Air Kerry has produced a series of thrilling takeoffs but no safe landings. The Iran agreement is a long way from a permanent deal, the Israeli-Palestinian talks are just talks, and the Syria conference is little more than a date and a city (Geneva, Jan. 22).
But give Kerry credit. He has dared to take big risks — in notable contrast to his revered but risk-averse predecessor, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clinton tended to subcontract out the unpromising assignments to special envoys like the late Richard C. Holbrooke, her deputy for Afghanistan. But Kerry has taken them on himself, personally and visibly. If any of them fail — and they all could — he'll take the fall himself.
One reason for the contrast is simple: Kerry, who turns 70 this week, knows this is almost certainly his last major assignment in American politics — his last opportunity to make an outsized mark. Unlike Clinton, he isn't considering running for president again, which means he can afford to absorb a setback or two.
Besides, one lesson of Clinton's tenure (to Kerry fans, anyway) is that caution may be an overrated virtue. Quick quiz: What was Clinton's greatest achievement as secretary of State? Answer: the "reset" with Russia — and it didn't last.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mcmanus-column-kerry-state-department-20131208,0,1472606.column#ixzz2mx8f3A5g
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