John Kerry

OT - I also think it jarring that with less skill on the part of a pilot, all three of these men who will be Obama's main foreign policy team could have been lost. Somewhat not off target - That time could well have strengthened the ties between those three. I know that that was supposed to have been the time when they created the outlines for what became Kerry/Lugar/Berman - which - to my completely unbiased eye - was pure Kerry idea, articulated for years, on a different approach.

However, I think it ignores history to say that Clinton never influenced policy. She actually did in a big way. We have no idea what would have happened had she backed Biden (or the more nuanced policies of Kerry and Reed) when Obama was deciding the path forward on Afghanistan instead of backing Gates and the surge. It may have been Gates and the military who influenced Obama or it could have even been seen as politically the path of least resistance. Further, would the result have been different if Kerry, with his military background, greater foreign policy gravitas, and greater eloquence in making a case, would have been the SOS. (Yes, I know that in GDP or GD, I would get killed for how I set up the question.)