Clinton eager to take State job

WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton debuts Tuesday as Barack Obama's choice for secretary of state in what Republicans say should be a largely friendly Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing.

"Eight years in the Senate, eight years as first lady, she's had a lot of international experience," said Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia, a committee member who sees no impediment to her quick confirmation as the nation's top diplomat.

The public, too, has warmed to Clinton, according to a USA Today/Gallup Poll conducted Friday through Sunday. Sixty-five percent of Americans approve of her and 33 percent disapprove, according to the survey. That's her best showing since her husband was embroiled in the Monica Lewinsky scandal in 1998.

While the New York senator faces little opposition among colleagues, she confronts bracing challenges in her new job.

The litany of American foreign policy dilemmas is well-known: winding down the war in Iraq while intensifying the fight against extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan; slowing Iran's nuclear program; managing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict amid a war in Gaza, to name a few.

What gets less attention is the extent to which many experts feel the State Department is ill-equipped to carry out its mission.

In October, a report by the American Academy of Diplomacy and the Henry L. Stimson Center concluded that "our foreign affairs capacity is hobbled by a human capital crisis. We do not have enough people to meet our current responsibilities."

"The contrast, I think, is quite stunning," said former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who expects Clinton to discuss the gap at Tuesday's hearing.

In preparation for Tuesday's questioning, Clinton has read thousands of pages of briefing materials and fielded questions at mock hearings, said Wendy Sherman, a former State Department official who leads Obama's State Department transition team.

"She's really enthused about this job," said Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., a committee member who met with Clinton on Friday. "I've just noticed a change in her."

There are reasons to be optimistic about Clinton's prospects for success, said James Lindsay, director of the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas' LBJ School of Public Affairs.