President-elect Donald Trump has narrowed his choices to four men: Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, David Petraeus and Bob Corker. Each man brings great skills and experience to the table. Correspondingly each has his drawbacks.

Rudy Giuliani is the former mayor of New York City who guided the city in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Prior to this he was a U.S. Attorney for the State of New York during which time he prosecuted organized crime and financial institutions. Most recently he has worked as a consultant dealing with heads of state around the world.

Giuliani has been one of the most loyal members of Trump’s political team. Many believed that his untiring advocacy of Trump would result in his selection as Secretary of State. The issues that he would face in Senate confirmation hearings would include potential conflicts of interest relating to recent business activities.

Mitt Romney was a senior partner at Bain Capital where he made his fortune. Subsequently he served as governor of Massachusetts and was CEO of the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee.

Mitt would bring a statesmanlike background to the State Department if chosen. He has broad business and governmental experience and a temperament that would serve him well as Secretary of State. However Romney was one of Trump’s most ardent critics during the presidential campaign. There is a large contingent of Trump supporters who believe Romney should be disqualified because of the bad blood that existed between him and the president-elect.

David Petraeus was a four-star general in the Army and served as a combat commander. He is known to be a highly exceptional warrior, statesman and intellect. After he retired from the military, Petraeus was head of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Petraeus would be a sensational Secretary of State. Unfortunately he was convicted of passing secret information to a former lover. It is difficult to see how the Senate will be able to get past this serious misstep.

Bob Corker is currently the chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. During his tenure as a member of the aforementioned committee, Corker has been intimately involved with the Department of State.

It would appear that Corker would be the most non-confrontational selection for Secretary of State.

Trump seems prepared to make a decision, probably this week. He has interviewed each man extensively. The issues impacting each man have little to do with their qualifications and more to do with extraneous issues. Giuliani- conflicts with business activities, Romney- loyalty to Trump, Petraeus- mishandling secret information and Corker- the least exciting man in the group.

Trump is unpredictable so the choice is up in the air. Personally I would select Petraeus if he were not tainted by his actions with a former lover. Giuliani is very controversial, but I think would be a great Secretary of State. Romney looks the part in every way. He has great experience as a manager and is very statesmanlike. Corker is the safest bet when you consider the vigor of the Senate confirmation process.

It should be interesting.