Brzezinski Embraces Obama
By Janine Zacharia
Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Zbigniew Brzezinski, one of the most influential foreign-policy experts in the Democratic Party, threw his support behind Barack Obama's presidential candidacy, saying the Illinois senator has a better global grasp than his chief rival, Hillary Clinton.
Obama "recognizes that the challenge is a new face, a new sense of direction, a new definition of America's role in the world,'' Brzezinski said in an interview on Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital with Al Hunt.''
"Obama is clearly more effective and has the upper hand,'' Brzezinski, who was President Jimmy Carter's national security adviser, said. "He has a sense of what is historically relevant, and what is needed from the United States in relationship to the world.''
Brzezinski, 79, dismissed the notion that Clinton, 59, a New York senator and the wife of former President Bill Clinton, is more seasoned than Obama, 46. "Being a former first lady doesn't prepare you to be president. President Truman didn't have much experience before he came to office. Neither did John Kennedy,'' Brzezinski said.
Clinton's foreign-policy approach is "very conventional,'' Brzezinski said. "I don't think the country needs to go back to what we had eight years ago.''
"There is a need for a fundamental rethinking of how we conduct world affairs,'' he added. "And Obama seems to me to have both the guts and the intelligence to address that issue and to change the nature of America's relationship with the world.''
Negotiating With Foes
Brzezinski also sided with Obama, who was criticized by Clinton as being "irresponsible'' and "naïve'' for saying he would meet in his first year as president with leaders of adversaries such as Iran and Syria. "What's the hang-up about negotiating with the Syrians or with the Iranians?'' Brzezinksi said. "What it in effect means'' is "that you only talk to people who agree with you.''
Clinton has the backing of her own Democratic foreign-policy heavyweights, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke, both of whom served in her husband's administration.
Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, had no comment on Brzezinski's remarks. See full article at Bloomberg.com
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