Register for E-mail alerts. Comment on articles. Sign up today, it's easy.
Close
The Washington Times Online Edition

Bush team lays ground for Obama foreign policy

Getty Images
President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Getty Images President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

Sen. Barack Obama’s rise to the presidency has freed the Bush administration to advance reconciliatory policies toward hostile foreign regimes in ways that would have been more difficult had Sen. John McCain won, diplomats and analysts said Wednesday.

Some of those policies, such as negotiating with North Korea and making overtures to Iran, represent a dramatic shift for President Bush and have been criticized repeatedly by many Republicans, including former administration officials.

Mr. Obama, however, praised those changes during the campaign, saying that the administration finally had gotten it right.

“We want to build on areas where there is some prospect of progress,” said a senior administration official involved in the transition, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak for Mr. Obama’s team.

“My sense is that you are probably going to see a fair amount of continuity in a number of those areas in terms of the substance of the approaches,” he said.

The official said the “hardest thing” during such a period is “to anticipate challenges and crises” — such as Russia’s threat Wednesday to deploy missiles near its border with NATO member Poland — but that the team is preparing for “decision points during the first six months of 2009.”

During briefings on controversial issues, “you put as dispassionately as you can where we are, how we got there and what are the options before you,” he said.

Diplomats said that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her team have prepared the ground for direct talks with Iran and progress on a nuclear deal with North Korea.

“The Department of State will do everything that we can, and I personally will do everything that I can, to make sure that this is a smooth transition,” Miss Rice told reporters, adding, “as an African American, I’m especially proud” of Mr. Obama’s election.

Although the administration opposes Mr. Obama’s call for unconditional talks with Iran, it has sent representatives to multilateral meetings with Iranian officials and is expected to announce its desire to send U.S. diplomats to staff a U.S. interest section in Tehran as early as this month.

“More than taking bolder steps, we are putting in place some processes,” a State Department official said. “If a decision to go ahead with an interest section is made, we’ll have a mechanism for dealing with the Iranian government.”

William J. Burns, undersecretary of state for political affairs, who took part in a multilateral meeting in July with Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, heads the State Department transition team, along with Patrick F. Kennedy, the undersecretary for management.

The department has set up “one-stop shopping” for the transition team on the first floor, where Mr. Obama’s nominees for secretary of state and other senior posts will be briefed by both career diplomats and political appointees.

“We are trying to move issues as far down a constructive path as we can and make as much progress as we can,” Mr. Burns said. “We’ll move quickly and do everything we can to accelerate the confirmation process, which will be very important given the pace lots of issues are moving.”

Officials predicted “continuity” on two of the five most urgent challenges — North Korea and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On the other three — Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan — they said the new administration is likely to “build on” the Bush team’s recent policies and take them much further.

Story Continues →

View Entire Story
Comments
blog comments powered by Disqus
About the Author
Nicholas  Kralev

Nicholas Kralev

Nicholas Kralev is The Washington Times’ diplomatic correspondent. His travels around the world with four secretaries of state — Hillary Rodham Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell and Madeleine Albright — as well as his other reporting overseas trips inspired his new weekly column, “On the Fly.” He is a former writer for the weekend edition of the Financial Times and ...

You Might Also Like
  • Delegate Robert G. Marshall holds a book as he reads to the House during debate on a bill defining life at the moment of conception during the House session at the Capitol in Richmond, Va., Monday, Feb. 13, 2012.  (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

    Virginia House vote states life starts at conception

    By David Sherfinski - The Washington Times

  • A bomb specialist examines debris Tuesday in Bangkok where two explosions rocked a neighborhood. An Iranian man injured by a grenade he was carrying also was linked to a blast that ripped part of a roof off a house. (Associated Press)

    U.S. concerned about spike in Iran-Israel ‘shadow war’

    By Guy Taylor - The Washington Times

  • Mabus

    Naming of Navy ships returns to tradition

    By Rowan Scarborough - The Washington Times

  • In Case You Missed It
    Happening Now

          Independent voices from the TWT Communities

          A President for the People

          T.J. O'Hara has joined the political ring, declaring his candidacy for President. If you agree America is in need of solutions rather than political tactics, his is a message worth reading.

          Riffs

          Find up-to-date information on the D.C. and Baltimore live music scenes and read interviews with artists and reviews of the latest releases and concerts.