December 1, 2008 | Read Time: 2 minutes
As President-elect Obama plans on Monday to appoint Hillary Rodham Clinton as the new secretary of state, the authors of Philanthrocapitalism have a piece of advice: lay off Bill Clinton.
As Mr. Clinton makes moves to limit his nonprofit activities to ameliorate concerns about his philanthropic connections, Mr. Obama may be hampering an important tool in U.S. foreign policy, argue Matthew Bishop, an Economist reporter, and Michael Green, a former British government aid worker.
“Yes, President Clinton should be more transparent in his philanthropy — especially about where the money is coming from. But his philanthropy is a valuable asset for America, particularly overseas, which President Obama should seek to harness not shut down,” they write on Values, a blog to promote their book.
The point out that despite being largely unpopular overseas, President Bush has gained recognition for foreign aid programs that originated with ideas from philanthropy — an approach Mr. Obama could improve on.
“The relationship between the [Bush] administration and philanthropists was largely accidental and uncoordinated. Obama should consider giving those philanthropists with a focus on doing good overseas, such as Bill Gates and, yes, Bill Clinton, a more planned role in his foreign policy soft power strategy, perhaps through establishing some sort of philanthropy advisory group,” they write.
In an opinion article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Mr. Bishop makes a similar point and writes that Mayor Bloomberg of New York did not have to give up his role as a philanthropist when he was elected.
Read The Chronicle’s article about how nonprofit leaders are concerned that Mr. Clinton is hurting his foundation with some of the decisions he has made to help his wife.
What do you think? Has Mr Obama asked too much of Mr. Clinton? How can the Obama administration work with philanthropy? Click on the comments link to share your views.
