BARACK OBAMA set out the major themes of his foreign and security policies yesterday in Chicago as he announced his nominations of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, Robert Gates as secretary of defence and General James Jones as head of his National Security Council.
He wants to restore American leadership in world affairs by strengthening alliances, creating new partnerships and combining US political, military and economic power in a more integrated fashion. Pragmatism, realism, centrism and continuity of policy are as much in evidence as change. Protection and assertion of US interests and values are in the foreground, tempered by fresh commitments to multilateral action and United Nations reform.
This is a powerful foreign policy team, which measures up well against the impressive economic team announced last week. Mr Obama's decision to offer Mrs Clinton the job sends a strong message around the world that he wants to restore US standing eroded during the Bush years and has had the courage to choose her to do that. He insisted that she and the other members of this team share a fundamental view of how this can be done, and wants to see vigorous debate in the White House between differing perspectives before he decides the policy line combining diplomacy and military power.
Mrs Clinton emphasised her priorities by referring yesterday to a reeling economy, climate warming and the terrorist atrocities in Mumbai as global challenges. She wants to see the US as a force for positive change with fewer adversaries and more partners, capable of achieving its objectives not by military force alone but by common action. She will bring a wealth of experience, authority and knowledge to the job. From an Irish point of view this is welcome indeed, given her sympathy for and commitment to this country's welfare.
Mr Gates has overseen a major change at the Pentagon since his appointment two years ago by President Bush, displacing neoconservative priorities with realist ones. His management of the war in Iraq including Mr Bush's military surge and recent agreement with the Iraqi government on withdrawing US troops, brings him into line with Mr Obama's own policy. They share a similar approach to the war in Afghanistan, seen as a crucial source of regional instability over coming years. General Jones's experience as a Nato commander in Europe and detailed knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict touch on two more key priorities of the incoming administration. Mr Obama's decision that Susan Rice, the new US ambassador to the United Nations, will be in his cabinet also sends an important signal that he wants to see the UN take on a more central role.
US foreign policy under Mr Obama faces the daunting challenge of restoring its international standing, influence and leadership. The first two of these will be more easily achieved than the third. There is great goodwill for the new administration, which will be reinforced if it adopts a more genuinely multilateral approach. But the world has become more multipolar. Mr Obama must adjust the US to that new reality.