# Fareed Zakaria
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [May 17, 2011, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189 "2011-05-17T08:50:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189/1 "2011-05-17T08:50:39Z")
Do you think [he](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fareed_Zakaria) is a potential candidate for post of U.S Secretary of States in near future?
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189/2 "2011-05-17T10:00:22Z")
I can think of worse people for the job, but
1. Is Hillary Clinton stepping down? and
2. Does Zakaria want the job?
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### Author:  [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189/3 "2011-05-17T10:06:51Z")
:smack:
Not replacing Hillary, but in a future government.
How is he viewed within U.S?
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### Author:  [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189/4 "2011-05-17T10:07:48Z")
Oh come on, _another_ Muslim in the US gov??! What’s wrong with you people?
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189/5 "2011-05-17T10:14:36Z")
He’d probably fit into the Obama administration well (which I’m assuming will continue to 2016). After that, it all depends on who is President - he’d certainly never get the post in a Republican administration.
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### Author:  [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189/6 "2011-05-17T10:21:39Z")
Does he have any experience as a politician or diplomat? If not, how about he keeps being a damn fine journalist and editorialist. I nominate him to replace Jim Lehrer as anchor of the PBS News Hour, if Gwen Ifil is busy.
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### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189/7 "2011-05-17T10:36:08Z")
Isn’t he a supply-sider?
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189/8 "2011-05-17T10:37:23Z")
I don’t see it happening. We haven’t gotten to where we accept proclaimed atheists, let alone proclaimed Muslims. Throw in a lack of experience, and I do not see it happening any time soon.
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### Author:  [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189/9 "2011-05-17T10:45:45Z")
Maybe not Secretary of State, since he has no actual diplomatic experience, but he could probably make a good state department policy wonk or undersecretary of somesuch. _Then_, after several years of experience, he could reasonably be considered for Secretary of State.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189/10 "2011-05-17T12:33:33Z")
I’m not sure he has the right career background in that he doesn’t have longtime roots as a policy adviser to either political party, but I guess it’s not as implausible as I thought at first glance.
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### Author:  [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189/11 "2011-05-17T14:32:22Z")
> [@Gyrate](#):
>
> 1. Is Hillary Clinton stepping down?
Hillary says she won’t continue after Obama’s first term.
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189/12 "2011-05-17T15:29:28Z")
Ambassador to someplace, maybe.
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### Author:  [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189/13 "2011-05-17T15:44:18Z")
No.
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### Author:  [@Spit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spit)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189/14 "2011-05-17T15:58:55Z")
No.
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### Author:  [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189/15 "2011-05-17T16:17:39Z")
I like Fareed. I regularly read him in print and watch him when he makes appearances on shows (sadly I haven’t been able to catch his CNN show as often as I would like). I find him to be smart and pragmatic, and even when I don’t agree with his decisions, he at least has reason to believe in them, not blind faith or some ideology.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189/16 "2011-05-17T16:19:17Z")
No. Not that he couldn’t do the job, necessarily, but most Americans have no idea who he is. Even the ones who do mostly know him as “that guy from CNN (or TIME)”.
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### Author:  [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189/17 "2011-05-17T16:38:52Z")
I think he’d be great.
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### Author:  [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189/18 "2011-05-17T17:20:23Z")
Probably not straight away but with a bit of experience as say undersecretary he could potentially be a very good secretary of state.
```
Zakaria brings a pretty unique mix of attributes. Along with Tom Friedman, he is probably the leading foreign affairs media pundit in the US today which is important since understanding and managing public opinion is an increasingly important part of foreign policy. However he also brings an academic and intellectual pedigree: he has a Phd in Political Science from Harvard and was the managing editor of Foreign Affairs. He is well respected by both parties as well as the foreign policy establishment. As a Muslim immigrant from India, he has a personal background relevant to two huge segments of the world which are important for US foreign policy. He would continue in the tradition of Kissinger and Brzezinski as immigrants who rose to important foreign policy positions.
```
He is still pretty young at 47 so it could happen. I wouldn’t be too surprised if Obama offers him a position if he is re-elected.
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### Author:  [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189/19 "2011-05-17T17:25:42Z")
Didn’t I read somewhere that he was offered a position in the Obama Administration and declined?
I think he like’s what he’s doing, he’s good at it, and it gives him the sort of influence he likes without the constraints that political office would hold.
Certainly could do worse, Lord knows.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fareed-zakaria/582189/20 "2011-05-17T17:38:57Z")
> [@elbows](#):
>
> Didn’t I read somewhere that he was offered a position in the Obama Administration and declined?
I think you are thining of Sanjay Gupta, who was offered the Surgeon General job and turned it down. As far as Zakaria goes, I’ve been thinking about it some more and I would say he has the knowledge of international affairs but not the experience with conducting diplomacy. You probably don’t want your Secretary of State to do that much learning on the job, so it might make sense to put him in more of an advisory role. That’s if for some reason he were being considered for a job like this.
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