WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton declared Wednesday that “a new American moment” had arrived in international relations, “a moment when our global leadership is essential, even if we must often lead in new ways.”
In a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations defending the Obama administration’s foreign-policy approach, Clinton said that “this is a moment that must be seized — through hard work and bold decisions — to lay the foundations for lasting American leadership for decades to come.”
Critics have said the administration’s diplomacy has yielded little on such difficult issues as Israeli-Palestinian peace and Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. But Clinton argued the opposite, saying substantial progress had been made on those fronts through “classic shoe-leather diplomacy.” She urged patience, saying the fruits of the administration’s labors will not be apparent for some time.
