(NewsMax) Is a civil war brewing between the Obama White House and Hillary Clinton’s State Department? A New York Times story published this weekend suggests one may have erupted already. On Saturday, the Times, quoting numerous White House sources, sought to explain the Obama administration’s erratic policy statements during the Egyptian crisis. 
The paper reported that Obama was “seething” over State Department officials’s statement suggesting that the administration did not want a quick transition of power in Egypt, with President Hosni Mubarak stepping down from his office immediately.
Obama felt that the State Department “made it look as if the administration were protecting a dictator and ignoring the pleas of the youths of Cairo.”
As Secretary Clinton and her special envoy Frank Wisner repeatedly called for an orderly transition that would include President Mubarak remaining in office for at least a period of time, Obama and his team studiously sought to undermine the State Department stance.
The Times states that Mr. Obama “was furious” about Clinton’s and Wisner’s statements, “as Mr. Obama was demanding that change in Egypt begin right away.”
Secretary Clinton was not the only figure who opposed Obama’s view. Clinton was joined by Vice President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who also were advocating that Obama adhere to a cautious and more traditional foreign policy approach toward the situation in Egypt.
Unhappy about the mixed signals high-ranking officials were giving, Obama intervened directly, telling White House advisers that “this was not the message we should be delivering.”  According to the Times, the Obama White House even recruited Democratic Sen. John Kerry to appear on “Meet the Press” last Sunday to contradict Wisner’s statements that reflected Secretary Clinton’s views. Wisner’s comments “just don’t reflect where the administration has been from day one,” Kerry said on the program.  (More Here)
Meanwhile John “Thurston Howell-Ketchup” Kerry is dispatched to Pakistan to smooth over tensions and try to gain release of Raymond Davis:
(ABC News) — Sen. John Kerry has left for a trip to Pakistan today, according to his spokesperson on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to calm frayed diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Pakistan.
Spokesman Frederick Jones said the trip comes at a time when the relationship is strained by the detention of a U.S. government official, Raymond Davis, suspected of killing two Pakistani men in self-defense during an alleged robbery attempt late last month in Lahore. Another Pakistani man was then accidentally killed by a rescue vehicle rushing Davis’ aid.
The U.S. was scheduled to host a trilateral meeting in Washington with Afghanistan and Pakistan at the end of February, but the meeting was canceled after Pakistan resisted U.S. demands to release Davis immediately. Pakistan is charging Davis with murder, but U.S. officials argue that Davis was in Pakistan under a diplomatic visa and has diplomatic immunity from prosecution in a host country. The senator is traveling on behalf of the Obama administration.
“Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry left tonight for Pakistan where he will meet with senior Pakistan government officials to reaffirm support for the strategic relationship between the two countries,” Jones said.  Details of when he will arrive were not given, due to security reasons.  (Read More)