The Growing Irrelevance Of The U.S. State Department

A Fine Mess At Foggy Bottom -- Seth Mandel, Commentary

Lost in all the speculation about the next secretary of state is the degree to which Foggy Bottom will need someone who can put the pieces back together. While Hillary Clinton coasted for much of her term on the good press that comes with being a Clinton, until the last couple of months she was having a decidedly average run as secretary of state. But the Benghazi debacle–which was in large part the result of Clinton’s incompetence and lack of attention–followed by the expected defection of most of our European allies at the UN vote on the Palestinians today, reveals a State Department marked by ineptitude and surprising irrelevance.

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My Comment: It's true .... I am old enough to remember when U.S. diplomacy and the power of the Oval Office were always successful in garnering international support on important international issues. But this decline in U.S. diplomacy has been going on for a long time ..... and in the past four years it has definitely accelerated. Will there be a change of direction in the next four years .... I doubt it .... but on a positive note .... all the past (and meaningless) rhetoric of "smart power" will cease to be a talking point for this administration and their media supporters.