i ve seen too many national security advisers go to war with their secretaries of state. getting the right team and saying to the transition team i need my own person like a bob kimmitt, that s crucial. it gives you confidence he may get it right. our must read is by mitt romney. i was surprised but willing to serve. i was indeed very critical of donald trump during his campaign. but now he has been elected president and accordingly, if i could have helped shape foreign policy to protect the country i love, i would have been more than willing to do so. i was more than a little surprised that the president-elect reached out to me to potentially serve as secretary of state of the united states. i see it as a welcome sign that he ll be open to alternative views and even to critics. as the country s next president, i earnestly hope that he will be successful in fostering greater prosperity and peace. i believe all americans can join in that wish. you know, it s funny, i think a
kimmitt makes perfect sense. tillerson is friends with james baker and he s a washington guy which makes the rest of the world breathe a sigh of relief. he s experienced. has many friends across both parties. one important fact is that he s not named john bolton. we noticed that. all of the people said amen. let s check that box. i mean, the trade up again for rex tillerson being able to get things done without open warfare inside state, whether you talk about kimmitt or you talk about hadley, that makes rex tillerson 75% more effective right there out of the gate. so tillerson doesn t want to have to battle the state department bureaucracy. his bigger worry will be battling the white house. that s what he has to think about.
neglected to bring up earlier that you brought up star as possible number two at state. yeah. bob kimmitt served in the treasury department. is another one of these military guys. the same as we discussed earlier david mccormick to be also a leading contender for number two at defense. so trump continues to surround himself with these people who have deep experience in the military. a james baker guy which is reassuring to the establishment. not only that, of what i heard over the weekend is correct, which i think it is, it is not a trump choice that he trusts tillerson and he ll have to sign off on it, but they want rex tillerson to take the lead in selecting the number two.
confirmation and effective people in place. if tillerson has hadley there and james baker picking up the phone calling john mccain saying, senator, we really need you on this one. with either hadly or kimmitt as number two, they won t vote it down. kimmitt knows the building better. this is all about coalition building as someone senior in trump world said to me the other day. they view it as world war ii. you take some people from over here and over there. you don t all have to like each other. you can all work together. david ignatius? joe, the one thing i would like to see is him reach out to a democrat or two. a lot of democrats need to be part of this government process going forward if it s going to work. also, he s got to find a way to sponsor a bipartisan examination of what russia was trying to do during our elections. if he owns that and says i m for
states. it s not clear having a confrontational relationship with the rest of the world, be it with china or with iran necessarily serves the interest of the president-elect or the united states. let me throw out a name coming to our attention. we have not yet gotten feedback on this from the transition folks. this is just someone to who might be being looked at, the former ambassador to germany bob kimmitt. bob is a good friend and a good man. he s been deputy treasury, undersecretary of state. he s a seasoned diplomat. if he were to have a major role as secretary or deputy, that s the professional experienced person that i would welcome. i m glad someone like that is being considered along with john huntsman, bob corker or bob