Author: patd

“But I don’t want to go among mad people," Alice remarked. "Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad." "How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice. "You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.” ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Winkin’ a nod to Blinken

Anthony Blinken that is, our soon to be Secretary of State.

According to the Washington Post:

President-elect Joe Biden has selected Antony Blinken, one of his closest and longest-serving foreign policy advisers, as secretary of state as he prepares to unveil a slate of new nominees this week that will emphasize a deep well of experience in the foreign policy and national security establishment.

Blinken will be nominated to one of the highest-profile Cabinet positions at a time when Biden is planning to prioritize foreign policy as a major pillar in his administration, with vows to reassemble global alliances and insert the United States into a more prominent position on the world stage.

[…]

Blinken — who grew up in New York and Paris, and whose stepfather survived the Holocaust, which had an impact on Blinken — got his start in government during Bill Clinton’s administration. He eventually became President Bill Clinton’s chief foreign policy speechwriter.

He later served as the staff director for Biden while he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and has also worked on his presidential campaigns.

He joined Biden’s staff when Biden was vice president, leading a broad portfolio that included overseeing Iraq and crafting a proposal for three autonomous regions in the country.

“We would not have gotten out of Iraq in a way that left the government with a fighting chance to make it without Tony Blinken’s hard work,” Biden told The Post in a 2013 profile on Blinken. “He was the go-to guy. He still is the go-to guy.”

In the Obama administration, Blinken was deputy national security adviser and deputy secretary of state.

He has been described as having a centrist view of the world, but has also supported interventionist positions. He once broke with Biden and supported military action in Libya, for example. During the Obama administration, he advocated for American action in Syria.

His reputation as a nonideological consensus-builder is also in the mold that Biden is attempting to craft in his administration.

[continues]

We the People

This is a great nation. And we are a good people. This is the United States of America. And there has never been anything we haven’t been able to do when we’ve done it together.

In the last days of the campaign, I’ve been thinking about a hymn that means a lot to me and to my family. It captures the faith that sustains me and which I believe sustains America.

And I hope it can provide some comfort and solace to the more than 230,000 families who have lost a loved one to this terrible virus this year. My heart goes out to each and every one of you.

“And He will raise you up on eagle’s wings,
Bear you on the breath of dawn,
Make you to shine like the sun,
And hold you in the palm of His Hand.”

And now, together — on eagle’s wings — we embark on the work that God and history have called upon us to do.

With full hearts and steady hands, with faith in America and in each other, with a love of country — and a thirst for justice — let us be the nation that we know we can be.

A nation united. A nation strengthened. A nation healed.

God bless you. And may God protect our troops.

President Elect Joe Biden