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Clinton Faces a Familiar List of Overseas Problems
Obama's Likely Choice for Secretary of State Brings a Hawkish Reputation to Table With North Korea, Iran and Palestinians

By JAY SOLOMON


WASHINGTON -- As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton would seek diplomatic solutions to problems her husband and President George W. Bush largely failed to solve, from North Korea's nuclear program to the Arab-Israeli conflict and the U.S. standoff with Iran.

Sen. Clinton's international stature would help gain the attention and cooperation of world leaders, say current and former U.S. diplomats. Even the former first lady's critics acknowledge that her tenacity and attention to detail could make her an effective chief American diplomat.
Still, Sen. Clinton's foreign-policy doctrine, as outlined during the presidential campaign, is considerably to the right of President-elect Barack Obama's. The two could form an effective good-cop, bad-cop combination, supporters say. Others fear a reprise of the ideological battles between the White House and State Department that marked President Bush's administration.
Representatives of Mr. Obama and Sen. Clinton continue to have intensive talks, and have resolved the financial-disclosure issues surrounding the international charity work of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, according to a transition aide. People on both sides say Mr. Obama is on track to announce Sen. Clinton as his choice.
"We're still in discussions, which are very much on track," said Philippe Reines, a senior adviser to Sen. Clinton, on Friday. "Any reports beyond that are premature."
Meanwhile, an official close to the transition team also said Friday retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones has moved up the list to become the favorite to become Mr. Obama's national security adviser.
His choice would likely mean James Steinberg, a top foreign policy adviser to the Obama campaign, would move over to the State Department and become Mrs. Clinton's deputy, the official said. Another Obama confidante, Susan Rice, would then be positioned to be Mr. Jones's deputy.
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Iranian protesters at the White House.
Two other officials close to the transition said New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, earlier mentioned for secretary of state, is likely to be nominated for commerce secretary.
Mr. Obama has indicated he will take a central role in crafting American strategy. "If she [Sen. Clinton] really is going to be a partner with the president, and not being placed just to neutralize her, it could be a good team," said Lawrence Wilkerson, a chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell. "She has the gravitas and work ethic...to get things done."
Sen. Clinton has earned a reputation as being among the more hawkish Democrats during her eight years in the Senate. She voted in favor of the Iraq war, though she later distanced herself from the decision and accused the Bush White House of providing skewed intelligence to Congress. She has also supported stringent economic sanctions against Iran for its nuclear activities, and broke with Mr. Obama last year by backing a Bush administration initiative to label an Iranian military body, the Revolutionary Guard Corps, a terrorist organization. During the campaign, she threatened to "totally obliterate" Iran if the country carried out a nuclear strike on Israel.
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North Korea's Kim Jong Il toasts Madeleine Albright in 2000.
Sen. Clinton ranks among Israel's staunchest defenders in Congress, raising concerns among some Arab diplomats about her ability to be a peace broker between Palestinians and Israelis. Many Arab governments have voiced hope that the Obama administration will view their positions more favorably than Mr. Bush did.
"She's not incredibly popular in the Arab world, but she's a known quality, which could help," said an Arab diplomat working on the Palestinian issue.
Sen. Clinton has joined with Mr. Obama in pledging to break from the unilateralist foreign policies that often defined the Bush administration, while working to rebuild American alliances globally. She has called for the U.S. to work closely with the United Nations and to empower multinational bodies like the International Criminal Court.
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Late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, with Bill Clinton and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 2000.
In facing the rising power of China and Russia, Sen. Clinton has called for a sustained effort to integrate Beijing and Moscow more effectively into global economic and political bodies. "Our relationship with China will be the most important bilateral relationship in the world in this century," she wrote in Foreign Affairs last year.
Sen. Clinton and Mr. Obama have both indicated they will continue an engagement strategy with North Korea pursued by President Bush that echoes an agreement the Clinton administration originally made with Pyongyang in 1994.
Some Democratic foreign-policy specialists grumble that the inclusion of Sen. Clinton and veterans of Mr. Clinton's foreign-policy team undercuts Mr. Obama's calls for change in Washington. Former Middle East negotiator Dennis Ross, for example, is expected to take a similar job under Mr. Obama.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122729889963548689.html?mod=googlenews_wsj