On The Front Burner: Taking sides in the hot 2016 presidential race,
Mandell: Clinton knows how to deal with reality
In 2006, I met Barack Obama in an unlikely way. I was in introduced to him by my great friend Republican Sen. Mel Martinez, who said I wouldn’t find a much smarter guy in government. Immediately after the 2008 election, President Obama appointed Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. Three years later, I was honored to be appointed by the president to become the 21st ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, where I served until last year.
Having worked for Secretary Clinton, I came to know her somewhat. Admittedly, Luxembourg wasn’t her top priority, but I did observe how she ran the State Department, and I listened as she discussed and set international policy. As a U.S. ambassador, I saw firsthand the complexity and fragility of the world we live in, and I learned the effect of temperament and strategy.
Hillary Clinton showed me that setting world strategy involves nuanced and thoughtful attention to every detail. It requires mutual respect, even when there is significant difference and disagreement as to policy. The leader of the Free World must create, sustain and strengthen strong relationships and alliances rather than build walls.
Our nation’s leadership requires understanding the world in a way that contrasts sharply with simplistic answers and “sound bites” that could result in short-term, feel-good success but lead to long-term disaster. I know from personal experience that setting business strategy is very different from what it takes to keep our nation secure. I’ve seen both up close.
Working for Secretary Clinton allowed me to see her judgment, composure and pragmatism. These admirable traits sometimes cause her to be seen as distant, hard and even cold. She does not know how to be a reality TV star, but she does know how to deal with reality. She is an enlightened leader who has a brilliant mind and the special soul that it takes to run our country with a steady hand.
She possesses an inherent value system that allows for a vision of the world as a better and safer place — an aspirational notion, based on a view of others rather than one based on her own ego. Ours is a world where our president’s judgment cannot be based on “buy low, sell high.” Being president is not about choosing winners and losers based on compliments or disparagements by world leaders.
We live in a world of complex themes, where thugs lead repressive regimes for self-enrichment. It’s a world where robots with artificial intelligence take over production lines in factories, and families where two incomes are required, where issues of sexual orientation, economic disparity and continuing racial bias all call for thoughtful, caring and strong leadership based on solid cultural and core values. Solutions are complex and nuanced, even if we wish for simple answers.
Secretary Clinton is a leader who builds relationships, not walls. She is not a bully who will risk American lives to salve a president’s ego. As a U.S. ambassador, I saw that Secretary Clinton has what it takes to keep our country safe and strong, a country where values enumerated in our Constitution and the Bill of Rights will be sacrosanct.
Her opponents are spending millions of dollars to define her in the most negative light. Clearly, there are substantive differences between the two major party candidates, and much is at stake. It is important to look beyond the rhetoric, the partisanship and the falsehoods, and instead focus on qualifications and fitness.
I know Hillary Clinton will lead our nation in a substantive way, with a steady hand, making us very proud to be Americans.