Scholars: Clinton diplomacy plan too swift
Scholars say Clinton's diplomacy plan weakens sitting president.
— -- Hillary Clinton has ignited Democratic audiences on the presidential campaign trail with a promise to send envoys to foreign capitals before she takes office, should she be elected next year.
"I won't even wait until I'm inaugurated," the New York senator told a crowd of about 500 on a recent campaign stop in New Hampton, Iowa.
"The day after I'm elected, I'm going to be asking distinguished Americans of both political parties to travel around the world on my behalf with a very simple message to the governments and the people alike: The era of cowboy diplomacy is over."
The idea that Clinton would assert her foreign policy before being sworn in could weaken the sitting president's authority at a critical time, some leading scholars and former presidential advisers say.
A president-elect setting her own diplomatic agenda during the White House transition also departs from recent administrations and would put her in league more with President Reagan, the experts note.
But Hillary Clinton says dramatic measures are warranted by the state of U.S. relations with the rest of the world, which she says is worse than at any time in history.
"Obviously, these are somewhat unusual times," Clinton said in a Des Moines Register interview. "The country is ready to turn the page on the failed policies of the Bush administration."
Should Clinton win and launch a diplomatic mission before taking office, critics say she could weaken the sitting president's moral authority to act in the closing months of his administration.
"Under the American constitutional system, we elect presidents for four years — no more, but also no less," said James Lindsay, director of the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas at Austin. "Presidents-elect should not exercise their authority before they have it."
The plan could prompt ongoing negotiations, often unseen to the new president, to stall while foreign parties wait for the new administration to take office.
