Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will tell the Council on Foreign Relations Wednesday that the Obama administration’s diplomatic engagement and international leadership are advancing U.S. national security and achieving concrete results, from tough international sanctions on Iran to strengthening the nonproliferation regime to relaunched Middle East peace talks, officials tell POLITICO.
The speech “will affirm that America has the unique reach, resources and resolve to mobilize the coalitions needed to solve problems on a global scale,” an official told POLITICO’s Playbook. “And she will offer examples from the past year and a half — from sanctions on Iran to reset with Russia to renewed alliances in Europe and Asia — that demonstrate how this model of global leadership is producing results and advancing American interests."
Describing a “global architecture of cooperation,” the speech will “show how all the different things Clinton is doing are in fact connected and part of an overall conception of U.S. leadership and a way to advance U.S. interests and values,” another senior administration official told POLITICO.
“It is a multiprong approach, and it relies as much on diplomacy and development as on defense,” the senior official continued. “Slowly and patiently, even with setbacks, it is working.” The official added that the speech will emphasize “how the U.S. is in fact leading in crucial ways around the world, notwithstanding all the doom and gloom about our declining [power], pulling in our horns and leaving other countries to fend for themselves.”
The speech will be titled "Seizing the new American moment: Why the U.S. can, must, and will lead in the 21st century," another senior official said.
Clinton’s speech comes as President Barack Obama is focusing more intently on the economic crisis and domestic issues and the White House is turning to Clinton to take a larger role not only in managing the administration’s foreign policy portfolio but in explaining it and taking note of its successes to American audiences.
“One of Clinton’s political strengths is she doesn’t overpromise,” the official said. “She doesn’t sell a version of a perfect world. And we have to come to grips with how hard these things are. When she says there is progress, it has the ring of credibility.”
The speech will have two prongs, said the official — a focus on smart power, meaning that the U.S. will use all the tools at its disposal, including diplomacy, defense and development, and an emphasis on the diversity of U.S. partners. Said the official: “We work with different partners in different ways, and we need to be open to what they can contribute.”
Clinton’s address will discuss “how these two dimensions translate into results in nonproliferation, the Middle East, climate, etc.,” the official said.
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