George Mitchell

via Obama’s Second Day To Focus On Foreign Affairs.

PHILIP ELLIOTT | January 22, 2009 09:07 AM EST |

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is ready to trumpet Hillary Rodham Clinton’s installation as secretary of state while turning to veteran politician and dealmaker George Mitchell to guide the new administration through the Mideast thicket.

It amounts to a new-look U.S. foreign policy by four senators _ Obama and Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden, who served together until after this year’s election, and Mitchell, who served much earlier as Senate majority leader. Obama was going to the State Department Thursday to join Clinton in addressing diplomats there and _ very likely _ setting forth major elements of the administration’s emerging national security strategy.

President Obama signs Nomination Orders

One key aspect of that policy would move forward Thursday, with Obama planning to sign an order to shutter the much-maligned Guantanamo prison within a year, according to a senior administration official. This would redeem a promise that Obama frequently made on the campaign trail.

If it seems that we are all breathlessly awaiting more news from the White House it’s because we are. Day 2 is here and we are examining BHO’s every move. We are all hanging on his every word. I’m glad we have some adult leadership in the White House, finally. Shutting Gitmo would be a symbol of our nations intent. We need to send that signal.

If you were looking around for someone to be a special envoy to the ME, and there was George Mitchell, believe me, you could do worse. From The Jerusalem Post, January 22, 2009, Herb Keinon quotes Mitchell:

Mitchell, Washington’s special envoy to the

Northern Ireland peace negotiations that led to the Belfast Agreement in 1998, spoke to the Post during a visit here last month to take part in a conference on US-Israeli relations at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).

“I understand the people in the

Middle East are discouraged,” Mitchell said. “I understand your feelings. But from my experience in

Northern Ireland, I share the feeling that there is no such thing as a conflict that can’t be ended. Conflicts are created by human beings, and can be ended by human beings. It may take a long time. But with committed, active and strong leadership, it can happen here in the

Middle East.”

This is a complete reversal of Bush’s policy of “Israel has a right to defend herself”, meaning that the U.S. will take a hands-off approach to any aggression by Israel. War by Israel is appropriate to the neo-cons because it will hurry the end of the world or something just as stupid. It never ceases to amaze me how many life and death decisions Bush made, not out of a deep concern for what was right, but out of pure ideology.