Praise From An Unexpected Source

If, prior to November, liberals had been told that Barack Obama’s foreign policy and national security appointments would draw praise from Henry Kissinger–a public servant of rare accomplishment whom many liberals denounce as a “war criminal”–their heads likely would have exploded. Yet that is what happened today in the Washington Post. Kissinger writes:

President-elect Barack Obama has appointed an extraordinary team for national security policy. …

No one can question the [Secretary of State-designate’s] leadership potential for breaking through encrusted patterns or her formidable presence in a negotiation. …

No one has ever been appointed national security adviser who had the command experience of retired Gen. James L. Jones, the former head of the Marine Corps and NATO commander. Inevitably, the facilitating function of the security adviser will be accompanied by a role in policymaking based on a vast, almost unique, experience. …

The continuation in office of Robert Gates as secretary of defense is an important balancing element in that process. … The incoming administration must have appointed him with the awareness that he would not reverse his previous convictions. He must make the difficult adjustment from one administration to another — a tribute to the nonpartisan nature of the conduct of his office in the Bush administration.

It remains to be seen whether Obama will, in the end, double-cross the leftists who made him their party’s nominee. At this point, however, they can only be dismayed to see their hero praised by Richard Nixon’s Secretary of State.

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