Secretaries of state address the challenges the next president will face

Although the administrations they served held clear differences in their views on foreign policy, five former secretaries of state seemed to arrive at a unified conclusion: the next president will need to take innovative steps in order to restore the reputation of the United States abroad.

Speaking at a George Washington University forum on the challenges of the next president, former secretaries of state Madeline Albright, James Baker, Warren Christopher, Henry Kissinger, and Colin Powell touched upon a myriad of topics, including how the U.S. should engage with increasingly hostile regimes, what steps the next president should take to combat climate change, and what should be done about the current brood of humanitarian crises.

Iraq played an important role in the hour-and-a-half discussion and brought forth a disagreement between Albright and Kissinger. When faced with the question of whether or not the U.S. should adopt a timetable for troop withdrawal, Kissinger remarked that it gave every opponent the opportunity to hold out for a deadline. Albright replied,

"There's a difference from saying that we have to remove our troops by 16 months and saying we need to bring them out at x minute."

The five secretaries also backed future support of NATO, despite recent aggression from Russia.

"The Russian Federation is not going to be the Soviet Union. That movie failed at the box office," said Powell.

Domestic issues were also addressed. Baker, who also served as the Secretary of Treasury from 1985–1988 commented that the recent collapse of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Lehman Brothers was one of the worst economic disasters in the century and agreed with the recent decision to not bail out any more banks.

The election was discussed in the closing segment of the forum. Baker mentioned that he endorsed McCain, Albright said that she was supporting Barack Obama, and Powell continued to withhold his endorsement, saying that he will wait until the debates. When asked by moderator Frank Sesno if he was having a hard time deciding since Powell was the first black Secretary of State and Obama stands to be the first black President, Powell simply announced that he was an American first and foremost and would not let either his friendship with McCain or his similarity in race with Obama influence his decision.

While Kissinger did not mention whether or not he would endorse a candidate he did give his opinion on the superfluous nature of the presidential race.

"I think the 24 hour news cycle and constant demands produce a necessity on the candidate to pretend they have an answer to every question."