If you haven't heard about Fareed Zakaria till now, let me introduce you to an absolute genius. This guy was born in Bombay to a former Indian parliamentarian Rafiq Zakaria. He came to US in 1982, did his studies at Yale and then a PHD from Harvard under Samuel Huntington( long time Harvard scholar and author of two wonderful books: Clash of Civilization and Who Are We)
Fareed hosts a show called Foreign Exchange these days. Prior to that, he was editor of Newsweek and wrote a great book called Future of Freedom. He has been part of numerous policy think tanks and is considered a centrist on foreign policy issues. On 12th September 2001, he wrote an article in Newsweek called " Why They Hate Us?" where he carefully laid out America's engagement in the Middle East and how things came to such an impasse that a radical Sunni movement managed to attack America at its heart. This article made him an instant rock star in foreign policy circles.
What makes him special is this: In an Obama administration, Fareed could be a great guy to do things which some of the recent administrations have completely failed in. Lets put this in perspective because Fareed becoming Secretary of State would be quite something. Imagine someone who is a non-American and a Muslim becoming American Secretary of State? This basic fact about Fareed and his great qualifications can make him a great ambassador where America has had the most trouble. He has also been a long time proponent of Kissinger style pragmatic diplomacy in which there are no permanent friends and enemies....someone who is more of a believer in Teddy Roosevelt style Real Politik as compared to Wilsonian ideals.
America needs a new engagement in Middle East, in Iran, in Africa and in the wider world. Fareed can have a great symbolic and substantive presence putting our broken foreign policy in place.
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