Obama hints at foreign policy appointments

By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama gave the first direct indication of who he might appoint to key foreign policy posts should he win the presidential election, pointing during Wednesday night's debate here to Republican Senator Richard Lugar and special Middle East envoy Gen. (ret.) James Jones. Amid criticism about his associations and advisers that surfaced in the debate and on the campaign trail, Obama referred to Lugar, Jones and running mate Joe Biden as people "who have shaped my ideas and who will be surrounding me in the White House." The debate was the final of three such encounters and was the most caustic, as Obama and his Republican rival John McCain traded barbs on the conduct of each other's supporters as well as taxes, energy policy, health care and education in a match-up intended to focus on domestic issues. With McCain trailing Obama by close to 10 points in some polls, the pressure was on for the Republican senator to change the dynamic of the race. Though many analysts described the performance as McCain's best, polls of viewers gave Obama the victory, in some cases by a 15-point margin. In the most heated exchange of the evening, the candidates attacked each other's campaign tactics, an interlude which McCain concluded by questioning Obama's ties to domestic terrorist Bill Ayres. Obama replied that, though he had served along with several prominent Republicans and educators on a school reform board with Ayres a decade ago, the latter played no role in his campaign, nor would he in the White House. Instead, he pointed to Lugar, Jones and Biden as people whose counsel he would seek and who would play a role in an Obama administration. Lugar, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has taken policy views sharply critical of the Bush administration, calling for talks with Iran and more engagement between the Israelis and Palestinians. He has been touted as a possible secretary of state, but this was the clearest indication from Obama that he might indeed be thinking along these lines. Jones, meanwhile, has been deeply involved in the peace process, serving for most of the past year as a security envoy for Israel and the Palestinian Authority as part of the Annapolis process. Illinois Representative Rahm Emmanuel, a member of the US House's Democratic leadership, described Obama's choices as indicating a turn away from the neoconservative approach of the Bush administration. "He would bring us back to a policy of realpolitic, a more realistic approach rather than an idealism that would outstrip (US capabilities)," he told The Jerusalem Post from the spin room set up at the Hofstra University debate site. That approach to foreign policy hasn't always been welcomed by Israel advocates, and some in the pro-Israel community were't pleased by the mention of Lugar. Though Obama enjoys the great majority of Jewish support, according to polls, he has not yet been able to put to rest questions about his commitment to Israel in some quarters of the community, drawing extra attention to indications of whom he would appoint to office. "It certainly does not allay concerns," said Morrie Amitay, the director of the staunchly pro-Israel Washington PAC who has criticized Obama over certain advisers and Middle East positions. He said that Lugar doesn't usually sign onto the Israel resolutions backed by the American Israel Public affairs Committee. "He's never had a strong pro-Israel leadership role," said former AIPAC legislative director Doug Bloomfield of Lugar, who he described as "neutral" on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "He's not in the top 50 friends. He's not an enemy, but he's not in the close friends category," he said, noting that Lugar hadn't opposed aid to Israel. But he said that pro-Israel activists want people who are strongly supportive rather than "even-handed," adding, "I don't think there's a lot of warmth in either direction." Bloomfield also described Lugar as "highly respected" and a "foreign policy expert" with hefty experience. Rep. Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat who also spoke to the Post from the debate spin room, pointed to those qualities as making him a "good anchor on foreign policy" even though he "hasn't always agreed with him" when it comes to Israel. Engel added, though, that in an Obama administration, "there are always going to be people like myself to push him and push others, and I'm confident that Senator Obama is going to be a good friend of Israel." Some on the more dovish side of the American Jewish community welcomed the mention of Lugar. "Both Lugar and Biden have been positive and supportive of peace efforts," said an official with one such group, who asked that his name not be used because he can't comment on partisan politics. Lugar also received plaudits from the other side of the spectrum - Republican Jewish Coalition Executive Director Matt Brooks, who praised Lugar as "a good friend over the years and somebody the Jewish community has worked with," as well as "less inflammatory" than other Obama advisers. However, Brooks argued that the foreign policy officials McCain would likely appoint - chief among them Independent Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman - have much stronger Israel credentials. The McCain campaign also pointed to Lieberman as a strong recommendation for McCain's own foreign policy team, and described the Arizona Republican as drawing on a much "broader range" of people dealing with the Middle East and Israel than the other side. But top Obama campaign official David Axelrod, speaking to the Post following the debate, asserted that the names his candidate listed show the wide, bipartisan pool he'd pull people from. "People can have confidence that when Obama's going to be president of the United States, he's going to draw on the best talent, both Republican and Democrat, to drag this country out of the ditch it's in," he said. Bloomfield pointed out that Obama and Lugar had become close over work together on non-proliferation issues in the former Soviet Republics and not in connection to Middle East issues. He added that it was unlikely that Obama would make him secretary of state, terming the debate reference a political move to demonstrate bipartisanship. "We've got a way to go before the election and being able to name people to cabinet posts," he said.