Egos in Hillaryland

Yes, I know, it’s almost as shocking as gambling at Rick’s. Here a plum from the article at TNR:

The hard-charging [special envoy Richard] Holbrooke remains the biggest question mark. Asked how Holbrooke managed to bargain the bullying Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic into a Balkan peace deal, Bill Clinton once replied: “Because he has the same character as Milosevic.” Holbrooke has longed to be secretary of state for decades, and probably would have achieved his dream if Al Gore, John Kerry, or Hillary herself had been elected president. Thus, it’s not hard to imagine him second-guessing Hillary, his student for many years. As Clinton herself told The New York Times last week: “Occasionally he has to be, you know, brought down to earth and reined in.”

Holbrooke’s assertiveness risks other potential clashes. He has never worked closely, for instance, with General David Petraeus, who now oversees the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan. The two egos were on display at a panel during last weekend’s Munich security conference, where Petraeus cracked wise about his new partnership: “You know, it’s every commander’s dream to have an ambassadorial wingman who is described by journalists with nicknames like ‘The Bulldozer.'” Then there’s Vice President Joe Biden. The two men, while outwardly friendly, have been rivals for years. “Neither would mind if the other disappeared,” says a person who has worked closely with one of them. Finally, there is Holbrooke’s uncertain relationship with Obama himself. For much of the 2008 campaign Holbrooke was a bete noire in the Obama camp–a foe of Obama’s top campaign foreign policy adviser, Anthony Lake, and a symbol to many of the ill-advised enthusiasm of Washington Democrats for the Iraq invasion. It was only in late summer that Holbrooke, through what one associate calls “a lot of lobbying,” was accepted into the fold. Asked about the state of Holbrooke’s relationship with the president, his friend Les Gelb says only, “I think it’s coming.”

Foodfights are fun, but the bigger question remains, what kind of policies does the Clinton State Department want to pursue, and is it on the same page as the White House?