CNN talk show host Zakaria could be on Obama short list for top diplomatic post in a more flexible second term.
Adam Kredo
Washington Free Beacon
4/17/2012
…Zakaria has gone to great lengths to protect and bolster Obama’s reputation. For instance, he has argued that Obama “is a centrist and pragmatist who understands that in a country divided over core issues, you cannot make the best the enemy of the good.”
Even as Zakaria has earned plaudits for his commentary on international affairs—including a spot on Foreign Policy magazine’s top 100 global thinkers list—he has also worked to discredit evidence indicating that Iran is on the cusp of obtaining a nuclear weapon and levied harsh criticisms of the U.S. political system.
Foreign policy experts on Capitol Hill and elsewhere warned that Zakaria’s aggressive defense of the Iranian regime, as well as his continued criticism of Israel, would lead to a disastrous shift at the highest levels of the executive branch.
With Zakaria at the helm, things could get “incredibly dangerous” at Foggy Bottom, where the State Department is headquartered, said a senior GOP Senate aide.
“The policy of Barack Obama is to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Fareed Zakaria is now to the left of Barack Obama on Iran. There’s no way someone like that is qualified to be Secretary of State,” said the source…
…“It would be a poor choice” to appoint him to a post inside the Obama administration, said [Cliff] May, a longtime critic of Zakaria. “I don’t think a journalist has ever been appointed as a Secretary of State, and there’s a reason for that practice, maybe some wisdom behind it.”
Zakaria’s views on the Constitution and the American democratic system have also raised eyebrows.
“The truth is we have a pretty complicated, antiquated system that has become dysfunctional,” Zakaria told talk show host Charlie Rose last year…
Read the complete article at the Washington Free Beacon
