Diplos To Take On Heavy Lifting Under Obama?

The State Department in Washington DC is one block from the National Mall.

From the Danger Room:

The New York Times reports that Hillary Clinton, President-elect Barack Obama's pick to head the Department of State, wants to expand the role of U.S. diplomacy. And after years of limited money for new hires, the Foreign Service and the U.S. Agency for International Development are hanging out the "help wanted" sign. So are the diplomats ready to take on the heavy lifting under the new administration?

Robert Gates, a strong proponent of "soft power," is fond of pointing out that the Department of Defense employs more people in marching bands than the Department of State has in the Foreign Service. And State's budget -- to state the blindingly obvious -- is a fraction of the Pentagon's.

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My Comment: I remember last year when hundreds of State Department employees protested because of a change in rules that now opened the possibility that some of them would be forcibly assigned to Iraq .... or they would lose their jobs.

How can these same diplomats be expected to do the "heavy lifting" .... when so many of them do not want to be assigned to the trouble spots of the world. This is probably one of the many reasons why the Pentagon assumed so much of the responsibility. The diplomats clearly did not want to take the burden.

Hmmmm .... the Obama strategists, Sen. Hillary Clinton, and their media allies are expecting too much from their State Department.