President Obama traveled to the State Department yesterday afternoon for a visit that was as rich in symbolism as in substance, underscoring his pledge to give top priority to diplomacy as he outlined an activist policy in the Middle East and warned that "difficult days lie ahead" in Afghanistan.
Clinton Addresses State Department Employees
Obama and Vice President Biden stood to one side as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced new special emissaries on the most intractable national security problems -- Richard C. Holbrooke for Afghanistan-Pakistan and George J. Mitchell for the Middle East -- to an invited gathering of several hundred, including State Department officials. Just hours earlier, about 1,000 cheering civil service and Foreign Service employees had packed the building's lobby to welcome her on her first day at work.
Clinton called the appointments of Holbrooke and Mitchell "a loud and clear signal . . . that our nation is once again capable of demonstrating global leadership in pursuit of progress and peace." Obama said the two statesmen would "convey our seriousness of purpose" in dealing with challenges he described as complex and urgent.
|