Perhaps "too headstrong" is a euphemism for "he's an assh*le"- I think he is, and that was one of his key strengths as a diplomat in Bosnia.  But I also think it played a role in why he wasn't able to get the SoS job.

Madeleine Albright.

I'll never forget the television interview in which it was pointed out to her that upwards of 500,000 children died in Iraq as a result of the economic sanctions. She was asked justify the sanctions [given this horrific tragedy] by Leslie Stalh on 60 Minutes. She admitted it was a tough choice but insisted it was a price worth paying.

This is how I often think about American foreign policy. Any price...that others pay...is worth it if it is in the best interest of American corporations in pursit of markets and natural resources and cheap labor.

I mean, let's be honest, if it had been a conflict between two nations not sitting on oceans of crude oil few in the government would have been clamoring for sanctions of any kind.

There's the way you want the world to be, and there's the way it actually is instead.

Or as Bob Dylan once speculated lyrically:

Democracy don't rule the world / you better get that through your head / this world is ruled by violence / but I guess that's better left unsaid

george walton

"too headstrong"  is in this case a euphemism for "he knows what he's doing".

It will be a tragedy if this guy gets passed over again, because Obama more than most new presidents is going to need experienced and competent hands in key foreign policy and defense posts. Hillary has demonstrated repeatedly, most recently in the chaotic and self-destructive primary campaign she avoided actually leading, that she's not up to this job.