New U.S. Administration to clean up the mess

22 Nov, 2008 07:24 / Updated 15 years ago

Hillary Clinton is ready to join Barack Obama's cabinet as the Secretary of State, according to the United States' National Public radio. If appointed she will have to deal with George Bush's controversial foreign policy legacy.

Most Americans call the Iraq war that has killed thousands of people the biggest mistake of Bush's time in office, but it’s not the only one. Russia has a hopeful eye on the new U.S. administration. The American missile defence shield ambitions, pursued by Bush, have damaged relations between the two countries. “We have taken note of the U.S. president-elect Barack Obama's position on these issues. It inspires the hope that we will be able to deal with them more constructively in the coming period,” said Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Meanwhile, millions of dollars have been put into the U.S. missile program, mostly from American tax payers' cash while the country is still dealing with the biggest financial crisis in years.  International Politics Professor at Columbia University Lincoln Mitchell says U.S. foreign policy needs to, and will, change. “One of the challenges for the Obama administration is to take a step back on not just missile defense, not just on Georgia, not just any individual issue and think about what we want our relationship with Russia to be,” he said. The professor thinks that whatever decisions Obama makes, he's still much better poised than the previous administration to deal with all the issues America is faced with. Related links Medvedev upbeat on Russia-US relations Moscow aims to restore trust with the U.S.