Joe Conason: Obama's Clinton Initiative

[babylonsister]

http://www.observer.com/2008/politics/obamas-clinton-initiative-0

Obama's Clinton Initiative
by Joe Conason | 2:19 PM November 17, 2008

snip//

The concerns about the Clinton Global Initiative and Bill Clinton’s other activities seem slightly overblown (as I’ve noted before). Every paid speech he has delivered over the past eight years is recorded in his wife’s Senate disclosure forms. Nor have donors to CGI been concealed, either, as any journalist who attends its meetings or examines its web site should be able to determine. The countries that have donated funding to the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative are also a matter of public record.

When such questions arose during the campaign, he promised to publish the names of all future donors if his wife were to be elected president – and presumably he will now make any reasonable disclosures requested by the President-elect as part of the vetting process.

Yet it is still necessary to consider the potential for conflict between U.S. foreign policy and the Clinton foundation’s relationships around the world. Like any international philanthropic executive, Bill Clinton cannot operate in other countries without the cooperation of their governments, some of which are controlled by dubious figures. There may be times, as there have been in the past, when he will say something nice about a government that the U.S. officially disdains.

But those realities have never stopped Senator Clinton from upholding U.S. policy and criticizing those same governments whenever she saw fit to do so. Nor would a foreign government assume that it could influence U.S. policy – which would be made by President Obama, not the secretary of state -- because it gave money to help the Clinton foundation provide medicine to AIDS victims in Africa. Should she become Secretary of State, a competent liaison between her office and her husband’s foundation should be able to avert any embarrassment.

A working relationship between the new president and the former president promises significant benefit for the restoration of American influence, no matter who ultimately takes over the State Department. As the world’s most popular statesman and one of the most respected, Bill Clinton could become an important asset to Mr. Obama – in places where we like the people in power and even in some places where we don’t.

[acmavm]

1. Well then, the HRC haters can start a rumor that she's a Muslim.

[leftofcool]

2. excellent post