Name:   copperline - Subject:   Mountain out of a molehill Date:   5/21/2016 11:36:13 PM

My sense of her tenure at State was that she had her hands full monitoring a regional crisis of historic proportions... a trial by fire for any diplomat  to be sure.   No treaties, that's right, but you may be overlooking the years of work that ultimately led to a nuclear treaty with Iran that were underway while she was head of State.       At that same time Trump was posturing on the social scene here in the US, hosting a reality TV show, and vainly 'promoting his brand'...while she was working with governments around the world to contain the deterioration of order in the Middle East... which we have long considered to be the most dangerous place on earth.   I don't think there is any substitute for diplomatic experience, and Trump has none.    She has plenty.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'moved too fast', it seems to me that we were not in control from the get-go... and our options were pretty limited.    We did move too far, too fast... beginning with the invasion of Iraq, IMO.   After slapping that tar baby, we are having trouble pulling our hand back out.     Also, opinions of changes in the culture of the State Department are so far beyond my experience that I have no idea how to respond.   I don't know anything about the culture of the State Department, I just expect them to do their very complex job of staying on top of our international relations.   I am going to assume that the majority of those people are extremely well suited to their jobs, knowledgeable, and appreciate what Presidential indiscretions can do to the delicate business they conduct for us.

I recognize they have a particularly complex and nuanced job to do, and would bet dollars to donuts that you can't find too many veteran diplomats and staffers at State who think that Trump will be doing the world a service with his antics.   Maybe I'm wrong, maybe someone in the diplomatic corps or their alumni will say he's a great leader who will crush our enemies with a mighty hand!

But I hope those people are few and far between.