WAIT'LL HE MAKES BILL AND W SPECIAL ENVOYS:

Barack Obama's security team delights the hawks: Bush’s Defence Secretary to stay at Pentagon (Tom Baldwin, 12/01/08, Times of London)

Barack Obama will announce his national security team today to approval from the military establishment and Republicans, distant cries of dissent from liberals and head-scratching from others. [...]

Yesterday Republicans were showering praise on these selections. Senator Lindsey Graham said that Mr Gates, President Bush’s Defence Secretary, had “led us through difficult times in Iraq” and that Mrs Clinton had a “little harder line” than Mr Obama on foreign policy.

Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is said to have formed a “very positive” early impression of Mr Obama and been similarly heartened by his appointments. Mr Gates differs from Mr Obama on nuclear policy. General Jones has served the Bush Administration as an envoy in the Middle East, where he was critical of Israel, and, though supportive of redeploying troops to Afghanistan, has previously suggested that a precipitate withdrawal from Iraq would be against the national interest.

It is, however, Mrs Clinton’s nomination as Secretary of State that will attract the most attention after a long battle for the Democratic nomination in which she had sulphurous disputes with Mr Obama on foreign policy. He criticised her vote to authorise military action in Iraq and scorned her claims to international expertise. She suggested that he lacked credentials to be commander-in-chief.