With the confirmation by the Congress of John Kerry as Secretary of State of the new Obama Administration, it was put in place an important piece in the puzzle of the government team, and this help to stir the waters not always clear of U.S. foreign policy when there are growing international tensions, uncertainties about the confirmation of Chuck Hagel to the Department of Defense. In addition, it is needed the redefinition of the overall priorities of the Country, to face the renewed tensions with China and the uncertainty about how to handle a relationship more clearly problematic, the file still open, on nuclear and options involved in the outcome of the upcoming Iranian presidential elections, the resurgence of hostilities in Syria and the risk of a widening of the crisis after the Israeli military action of 30 January, the potentially destabilizing of the situation in Egypt and the French intervention in Mali ... These are just some of the issues - in substantial continuity with what has been the experience of its predecessor - the new Secretary will be confronted in the coming weeks. The major issue is, rather, "how" Kerry wants to tackle the various agenda items. Also on this floor, a substantial continuity with the line of action of Hillary Clinton seems almost obvious.
The U.S. Administration is, today, faced with a dilemma. To focus the attention to internal affairs as it was said in the inaugural address on January 21, it does not mean (obviously) the abandonment of an international dimension, for the United States, that is a necessity. This dimension must, however, find a balance with the constraints imposed by an increasingly evident understretch. At the same time, the second Obama Administration is called upon to deal - at least until the next mid-term elections - with the tensions arising from the polarization between the Republican majority in the House of Representatives and the Democratic Senate, with the need for the President to negotiate each time the consent of theCongress, apparently not willing to make concessions, even on sensitive issues as the sum of the measures taken to early January to avoid the dreaded "fiscal abyss" (fiscal cliff). In the difficult search for a squaring of the circle, John Kerry is finally called to take into account the higher margins of action that generally benefits from a President second mandate. In fact President is no longer beset by the specter of re-election and often, on the contrary, he is searching the opportunity to link his name to some significant results, in both domestic and international level.
