Obama has ensured lively debate in his cabinet as he appoints Hillary Clinton and other conservative figures, writes Denis Stauntonin Washington
ALMOST A year ago, in a debate before the Democratic caucus in Iowa, Barack Obama was asked how his administration would be different from Bill Clinton's given that he had drawn so many advisers from the former president's circle.
Before Obama answered, Hillary Clinton broke in with a loud laugh, saying "I want to hear this".
"Well, Hillary," Obama deadpanned.
"I'm looking forward to you advising me, as well."
It was one of the quickest rejoinders of the campaign but few who watched the two candidates on that snowy afternoon in Des Moines would have imagined that Obama's prediction would come true.
It was realised in Chicago yesterday morning when the president-elect introduced his national security team, led by Mrs Clinton as his choice for secretary of state.
As they exchanged compliments in front of a row of US flags, it was hard to believe that, only a few months ago, Obama and Hillary Clinton were exchanging insults about their respective foreign policy credentials.
Could this be the same Obama whose promise to talk to America's enemies without preconditions Clinton described as irresponsible and naive?
And had he really chosen as his secretary of state the woman whose vote to authorise the Iraq war Obama identified as evidence of poor judgment on national security?
The president-elect insisted that he welcomed the prospect of debate at the cabinet table but that, in the end, he would decide on foreign policy and his national security team would implement his decisions.
Obama's other choices should ensure that there will be plenty of debate in his cabinet because key figures in his team take dramatically different approaches to everything from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to missile defence and nuclear disarmament.
Obama's national security adviser, retired general Jim Jones, is a former NATO supreme commander who is close to many Republicans and who once described as dangerous Obama's plan for a swift withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.
Jones, who grew up in Paris and speaks French well, served last year as a US envoy charged with trying to improve the Palestinian security forces.
He was harshly critical of Israel's military activities within the Palestinian Territories and was reported as favouring the deployment of a NATO-led international military force to the region, something Israel views with horror.
Hillary Clinton has been one of the most pro-Israel members of the US Senate, defending the security wall that has created an enclave system on the West Bank and opposing talks with Hamas until the group renounces violence and recognises Israel.
Clinton identifies with Israeli moderates rather than hardliners, however, and her strong support among Jewish Americans could strengthen her negotiating hand if she chooses to exert pressure on Israel to make compromises.
Obama's decision to keep Bob Gates as defence secretary has won widespread praise, particularly from conservatives.
A former career intelligence officer who became CIA director, Gates is a foreign policy realist who, as a member of the Iraq Study Group in 2006, favoured an early withdrawal from Iraq and the opening of talks with Iran and Syria.
Gates is, however, a strong believer in missile defence who wants to press ahead with siting systems in Poland and the Czech Republic. He also differs from the majority of Obama's supporters in favouring the development of a new generation of nuclear weapons called the Reliable Replacement Warhead.
Like Hillary Clinton and Gen Jones, Gates supported the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, so Obama's national security team will be dominated by people who disagreed with the president-elect on the central foreign policy issue of his campaign.
Along with vice-president elect Joe Biden, they are solidly within the mainstream of the US foreign policy establishment, hard-nosed realists who are unsentimental in pursuing American interests.
The sole representative of the idealistic wing of Obama's campaign is his nominee as ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, who has long advocated dramatic action to prevent genocide.
Obama has given Rice cabinet rank and he made clear yesterday that, despite the apparent conservatism of his other personnel choices, he is determined to change the emphasis of US foreign policy by embracing multilateralism wholeheartedly.
"The common thread linking these challenges is the fundamental reality that in the 21st century, our destiny is shared with the world's," he said.
"From our markets to our security; from our public health to our climate - we must act with the understanding that, now more than ever, we have a stake in what happens across the globe.
"And as we learned so painfully on 9/11, terror cannot be contained by borders, nor safety provided by oceans alone."