Jones May Be Star of Obama Foreign Policy Team:
Commentary by Albert R. Hunt
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Last week, the world was taken by President-elect Barack Obama’s new foreign policy team: Hillary Clinton as U.S. secretary of State and Bob Gates, who is being kept on as head of the Defense Department.
Both choices are remarkable. There hasn’t been anything approaching the selection of Senator Clinton since 1980, when Ronald Reagan offered the vice presidency to old rival and ex- President Gerald Ford; in contrast, the Clinton appointment is probably a good idea.
Only a year ago, a central theme of the Obama insurgency campaign was his opposition to the war in Iraq. Imagine if it was suggested then that he would win the election and keep President George W. Bush’s Defense chief. This is a testament to both Gates and to the recent U.S. success in Iraq.
Yet the most impressive, and perhaps important, choice may have been Obama’s tapping General James Jones to be his national security adviser.
In his own right, Jones, 64, is as formidable as the other two heavyweights. He’s a retired four-star general; a highly decorated 40-year Marine veteran; a former commandant of the corps and supreme allied commander of NATO forces. He also rejected Bush’s overtures for positions including deputy secretary of State and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
He looks the part. If there was a movie about this team, the 6-foot, 4-inch, broad-shouldered Jones would play himself, now that John Wayne is gone.
‘Commanding Presence’
“He has a terrific military background, great discipline, considerable diplomatic skills and a commanding presence,” says former Defense Secretary William Cohen. Cohen has known Jones for 30 years -- the general was his top military aide at the Pentagon -- and still doesn’t know whether he’s a Republican or Democrat.
Although Jones and Obama barely know each other, people who know them well predict they will forge a close relationship. Both are intellectually curious, self-confident, more pragmatic than ideological, and interested in seeking out people with different perspectives.
“If they didn’t think there would be a rapport, the offer would not have been given or accepted,” says Senator Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat who’s one of the preeminent military experts in Congress. “Intellectually and temperamentally, they are similar.”
If so, Jones will bring something to the job that has been sorely missing. He’s an honest and effective mediator and broker of ideas, assuring both that strong policy differences are framed for the president in a fair way, and that only big matters are brought to him.
Echoes of Scowcroft
This is the role so effectively played by another general, Brent Scowcroft, during the first Bush presidency. Scowcroft, who was personally close to George H.W. Bush, has been an adviser to and a model for Jones, and helped him decide to accept this post, associates say.
In the first Bush administration, Scowcroft served as a go-between for high-powered officials -- Jim Baker at State, Dick Cheney at Defense, Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs -- and always did it with skill, sensitivity and the president’s interests preeminent.
The honest broker national security role was derailed for most of the current Bush presidency. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney bypassed all channels, intent on outmaneuvering Secretary of State Powell. With an acquiescent and passive president, they succeeded in making the national security decision-making process a travesty.
No End Runs
Even before Clinton has been confirmed by the Senate, fears are being stoked that she’ll try similar end runs in an Obama administration. Some of her associates have put out the word that she’ll have a unique ability to deal with the president directly and be more equal than others.
“That would not be a great prescription,” warns Cohen, who headed the Pentagon during Bill Clinton’s presidency.
If anyone tries an end run, they are likely to find the national security adviser a formidable obstacle. Jones has privately been appalled and frustrated at the breakdown of a coherent interagency national security system and is determined to restore that process.
His record suggests he will be a realpolitik internationalist and reject the neoconservative unilateral approach. He has told friends that it’s important to “get it right” on Russia, and not simply to act reflexively on Vladimir Putin’s aggressive behavior.
The Anti-Rumsfeld
He appreciates that the most important bilateral relationship will be with China. In the Middle East, as in other matters, he will follow the president’s directives while advocating more engagement. And he wants to close the Guantanamo detention center and end torture.
It’s not hard to see why he and Rumsfeld didn’t see eye to eye.
Jones, never a fan of the Iraq War, has indicated he considers Afghanistan an enormous challenge. While he supports sending more forces there, he believes that without a comparable effort to reform the Afghan government and use American “soft power,” success is impossible.
He brings another credential that Reed, a veteran of the 82nd Airborne Division, considers vital: “He has commanded Marines in combat. He knows decisions made in Washington ultimately are carried out by young Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen.”
Singing Piaf
Jones is a tough Marine. He also has wide-ranging interests and an attractive gentle side. He and his wife, parents of a special-needs daughter, created a program for Marine families in similar situations when he was commandant.
When he was recognized several years ago by the Atlantic Council, a musical response was suggested. In fluent French, he sang Edith Piaf’s “La Vie En Rose.”
Indeed, about the only myth in the Jones lore is that he was an outstanding basketball player for a renowned Georgetown University basketball program in the 1960s. Actually, he played there before Georgetown became a national power and averaged only 0.8 points per game.
Yet Cohen, once an all-state basketball player in Maine, has played pickup games with Jones for years and warns he can be fairly imposing on the court. Not nearly as imposing, he adds, as off the court.
(Albert R. Hunt is the executive editor for Washington at Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)
To contact the writer of this column: Albert R. Hunt in Washington at ahunt1@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: December 7, 2008 10:46 EST |
