Serious question: What were Hillary's chief accomplishments as Sec of State?

[karynnj]

28. The first three were either completely or primarily done in the second term

1. It is true that she got the sanctions on Iran. Those in favor of sanctions, included not just those hoping for diplomacy, but people like Netanyahu aiming to hold Iran back by sanctions alone. There was little done on negotiations when she was Secretary of State. Add to that, it was Senator Kerry, who Obama sent first to develop the back door channel in Oman. In early discussions, she was not one of those arguing to open talks. It is true that Bill Burns and Jake Sullivan were involved in some of the early talks, but by 2012 when they ended- they had gone nowhere.

The big effort at negotiation started when Rouhani was elected and took office in August 2013. Burns and Sullivan, then reporting to Kerry and Biden respectively were involved in initial bilateral talks. At the end of September, Obama spoke to Rouhani and the US officially entered negotiations. John Kerry and Wendy Sherman were the ones involved with this multinational effort. If you look at HRC statements before and after the interim deal and before the framework -- she was very very hesitant to back what Obama and Kerry were doing. You might look up, Obama's statement when the deal was made and his press conference a few days later - he thanks a lot of people in each. Not on the list - HRC. Kerry spoke from Vienna and he thanked an even longer list of people - again - not HRC. Now, as the likely Democratic nominee, had her work on the negotiations been significant, they would have thanked her. (Kerry did on a Sunday talk show speak of her getting the sanctions.) Yes, I KNOW HRC claimed more .... but, in all the coverage , US and international, the credit is to the President for being willing to risk political capitol on something seen as unlikely and John Kerry, who worked with amazing persistence, skill and patience.

2. Copenhagen was seen as a failure, not a success. As to bilateral agreements -- not really and the situation was so bad, that in 2012, Kerry was told by the administration that diplomatic accomplishments on climate change, which he wanted as a signature issue, were unlikely. Kerry used his LONG relationships with the Chinese climate change people -- yes, the ones that HRC spoke of "hunting down" -- and worked with them to find common ground. The key was not hunting them down, but respecting them, listening to their concerns, even hosting them at his home in Boston. Kerry was the Secretary of State who deserves credit for that US/China pact, the agreement in Lima adding other countries and the Paris agreement. NONE of these accomplishments were remotely on the horizon when she left office.

3. The effort to normalize relations with Cuba also started in the second term. In fact, even the HRC people simply claim Obama did it because she advised him to at the end of her term in a letter. In fact, Obama spoke of wanting to do this in 2008. She really had no part in it. In fact, Pope Francis had a bigger role, as did Ben Rhodes and other national security people and John Kerry.


4. and 5. are things she legitimately can claim.


Hillary Clinton will likely be President; John Kerry will never be President. I resent that people attempting to pad Clinton's resume are willing to simply take his two biggest accomplishments on two issues he spent his career on. The Iran deal would not have happened without Kerry as SoS AND Obama as President. The Paris agreement, based more on the Bali conference in 2007 than Copenhagen 2010, would not have succeeded without John Kerry.