Hillary Clinton

There is no doubt that as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton undid much of the damage to the United States image in the world done by the George W. Bush administration.  Foreign perceptions of our country improved, in part because this secretary of state spoke out, everywhere she went, on Internet freedom, women’s rights, public health, and economic issues. She was the most traveled secretary of state in history, visiting 112 countries during her tenure.

The attacks from Republicans on the way foreign policy has been handled by the Obama administration have been relentless. Too, Hillary Clinton’s performance as secretary of state was something of a mixed bag. She performed at a high level of competence, but throughout her tenure, President Barack Obama was the chief architect of U.S. foreign policy. Foreign Affairs author Michael Hirsh wrote,

“By any standard measure of diplomacy, Clinton will be remembered as a highly competent secretary of state, but not a great one. Despite her considerable star power around the world, her popularity at home, and her reputation for being on the right side of most issues, she left office without a signature doctrine, strategy or diplomatic triumph. It is a stretch to include Clinton in the company of John Quincy Adams, George Marshall, Dean Acheson, and Henry Kissinger– some of the great secretaries of state who profoundly changed U.S. foreign policy. Although she has avoided all talk of what comes next, it may well be that Clinton’s tenure as diplomat in chief will someday be viewed as a steppingstone to the presidency, as it was for Thomas Jefferson and Adams.”

For progressives it is important to consider Clinton’s work as secretary of state before being whipped into a frenzy leading into the 2016 presidential election, now more than three years away. Blog for Iowa recommends reading the rest of Hirsh’s assessment in Foreign Affairs by clicking here.