Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.comment From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Offering short list for Secretary of State Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 14:51:51 EST Message-ID: \SE G;COMMENTARY \SS (WS) \HD Offering short list for Secretary of State \BY Morton Kondracke If Bill Clinton sounded out foreign leaders about whom he ought to pick as secretary of state, my guess is that the Democrat they respect the most, surprisingly, is outgoing Rep. Steve Solarz of New York. In Washington-Little Rock speculation about Mr. Clinton's picks for top administration posts, Mr. Solarz is relegated to an important second-level job, such as United Nations ambassador. That's a mistake. Of all the rumored candidates for the post of America's top foreign policy-maker, Mr. Solarz is the most-traveled, the most acquainted with foreign leaders, the most creative, and, generally, the wisest in his judgments about what the United States ought and ought not to do in the world. Among all the candidates for State, he and Rep. Les Aspin of Wisconsin were the only Democrats to understand the need for military action to reverse Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. Even Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey, the neo-conservative-labor favorite for State, voted against giving the president the authority to use force in the Gulf in January 1991. Rep. Lee Hamilton of Indiana and Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia led the opposition. On the other hand, Mr. Solarz is not an indiscriminate hawk. Like most Democrats, he opposed aid to the Nicaraguan Contras and to Angolan rebel Jonas Savimbi. And he voted in favor of nuclear freeze resolutions in the 1980s, although he also favored deployment of intermediate-range missiles in Europe. Mr. Clinton intends to be chiefly a domestic policy president, but he may find himself thrust deep and early into world affairs, especially if there is a crisis in Russia, if Saddam decides to challenge Mr. Clinton over inspection of weapons factories, or if Bosnians are starving and freezing to death in the Yugoslav winter. Along with arriving up to speed on all such problems, Mr. Solarz - and few others - would be able to devise a new world strategy for the United States that recognizes the need for reliance on collective security through the United Nations, but isn't afraid to provide U.S. leadership. Mr. Solarz, alone among the likely candidates for State, is on a first-name basis with Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, South African leaders F.W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela, Philippine President Fidel Ramos, Korean President Roh Tae-woo, Turkish President Turgut Ozal, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Polish President Lech Walesa. Other candidates know some of these leaders well. No one else knows them all. For years, Mr. Solarz has been legendary among his House colleagues - and laughed at, in some cases - for his many travels. Some colleagues resent the fact that Mr. Solarz, chairman of the Asian and Pacific affairs subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, did not limit his travel to Asia. Indeed, he hasn't. He's been to nearly 100 countries, far more than any of the others usually mentioned for State. He is not an expert on international economics or on Russia (as Mr. Bradley is), but he is expert on the problems of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, on democracy-promotion and human rights. Among all of Mr. Clinton's potential secretaries of state, Mr. Solarz is probably the best at communicating about foreign policy. He's a natural at sound bites and op-ed pieces, and diplomatic reporters have been known to track him down in obscure African or Asian capitals, knowing they will get an intelligent quote. And no other candidate has a record of accomplishment like this: * In 1986, newly installed Philippine President Corazon Aquino hailed Mr. Solarz as "the Lafayette of the Philippine revolution." Mr. Solarz had been responsible for limiting aid to dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and in 1985 he conducted crucial hearings on Mr. Marcos' hidden wealth in America, helping delegitimize the dictator at home. * The U.N. peace plan in effect in Cambodia is Mr. Solarz' invention. When Mr. Solarz couldn't persuade the Bush administration to adopt the plan, involving disarmament of warring factions, the holding of elections, and supervision by a U.N. force, he got Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans to promote it. * In the mid-1970s, Mr. Solarz convinced the Carter administration to maintain economic sanctions on the white Rhodesian government to promote full movement to black rule. In 1980, he offered the first bill to impose sanctions on South Africa to force an end to apartheid. * In 1987, at the urging of Mr. Walesa, Mr. Solarz led the way in getting sanctions on Poland lifted, encouraging movement by the then-communist government to liberalize. * In 1981, he was the chief sponsor of legislation to authorize military aid to the Afghan rebels fighting the Soviet invasion. The same year, he sponsored legislation to cut off military aid to the Salvadoran government if it did not curtail death squad activity. * Lately, Mr. Solarz has been advocating creation of dedicated standby forces, or a direct-volunteer "foreign legion," to give the United Nations the power to respond quickly and forcefully to emergencies such as the Somali civil war and famine. Mr. Solarz is not universally popular in Congress. "He's respected, but not liked," said one colleague who agrees with him on most policy questions. "The problem is mainly personality. He does not work well in a team setting." The term most often applied to Mr. Solarz is "pushy." He sometimes reminds even friends of the kid in the school room who constantly had his hand raised. This kid usually has the right answers, however. Also, he has been spectacularly successful in getting legislation through Congress, which doesn't happen unless colleagues respect him. Mr. Solarz is thought to be handicapped politically by having been cited for 743 overdrafts at the House Bank and by having lost the primary in New York's 12th congressional district. The district was created to increase Latino representation in Congress, and Mr. Solarz angered Hispanics by going for it. The truth is, he is not perfect. But neither is any other Democrat on the spec list. Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana may be closer to perfect, but he says that he won't take the job. And it is a formidable, crucial job. The next secretary of state may have to be the greatest American statesman since George Marshall and Dean Acheson created the post-World War II world order. Mr. Clinton ought to look above all for somebody who is creative. And if he is a little "pushy," good for him. Morton Kondracke is a senior editor for Roll Call and is nationally syndicated. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. 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