Hillary Clinton Center Stage

Hillary Clinton, today, is before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in her confirmation hearing for Secretary of State. As a fellow senator, her reception is expected to be warm. But the issues she and the country are facing couldn’t be tougher.

Gaza. Iraq. Iran. Afghanistan. New powers. Old foes. And then there’s Bill Clinton and his web of ties.

This hour, On Point: We’re talking about Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, and listening in on her confirmation hearing.

You can join the conversation. What would your question be for Senator Hillary Clinton — soon to be, it appears, Madame Secretary? On Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Gaza, China, Pakistan?

Guests:

From Washington, we're joined by Charles Kupchan, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and professor of international relations at Georgetown University. He served on the National Security Council during President Bill Clinton's first term. He’s author of “The End of the American Era: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Geopolitics of the 21st Century” and the forthcoming book, “How Enemies Become Friends.”

And from Paris, we're joined by Christopher Dickey, Newsweek's Paris bureau chief and Middle East regional editor. He recently wrote about the challenges President-elect Obama will face from Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. His forthcoming book, due out next month, is "Securing the City: Inside America's Best Counterterror Force - The NYPD."

More links:

For a breakout of Senator Hillary Clinton's positions historically on various foreign policy issues, see this backgrounder from the Council on Foreign Relations.