Like most cabinet nominees, Mrs. Clinton was short on policy specifics. She affirmed the incoming administration’s intention to increase diplomatic contacts with both Iran and Syria (a major change from the Bush administration and some of her own previous positions). Still, she offered no details on what diplomatic incentives Mr. Obama would offer to try to wean Tehran from its nuclear ambitions; nor did she say what new pressure might be brought to bear should that fail beyond repeating the mantra that no options are off the table.

After weeks in which Mr. Obama largely refused to comment on the war in Gaza, Mrs. Clinton struck a different  and welcome  tone from the Bush administration, emphasizing the “tragic humanitarian costs” of the conflict in which more than 900 Gaza residents and 13 Israelis have died. She declared a firm commitment to an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement with a two-state solution, but there were no specifics. There is less than a week before Inauguration Day, and until there is a cease-fire, there is no hope of reviving negotiations.

The hearing featured the usual senatorial preening with committee members heaping praise on Mrs. Clinton  and vice versa. We hope the pledges to work together in the national interest have real staying power.

Even as he expressed enthusiastic support for Mrs. Clinton, Senator Richard Lugar, the panel’s ranking Republican, raised thoughtful and serious questions about former President Bill Clinton’s charitable activities. The “core of the problem,” he warned, is that foreign governments and others “may perceive the Clinton Foundation as a means to gain favor with the secretary of state.”

He rightly called for steps to make Mr. Clinton’s fund-raising activities more transparent and to strengthen the oversight process that the former president has agreed to.