If Barack Obama actually selects Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State it will no doubt be a decision influenced by Abraham Lincoln’s selection of William H. Seward for the same position. I am supportive of Obama’s desire to create a Lincolnesque cabinet. I have no doubt that Clinton can do the job well, although I hope her undersecretary is better organized than her campaign team was. The really big question mark is not Hillary, in my view, but Bill. If I had my druthers, neither of them would have a high profile role in the administration or the party. While I can certainly understand the potential benefits to having them inside the tent, pissing out, I am concerned about the dynamics of a Secretary of State that is married to an ex-president. Let me put it this way…
If Obama picks Clinton, I won’t be upset. But if he comes to regret it, I’ll be quick to say ‘I told you so.’ Having said that, Colin Powell and Condi Rice certainly did not control American foreign policy. You’d have to go back to Kissinger to find a Secretary of State that did control our foreign policy.
I’m not concerned about Hillary controlling foreign policy. If Obama can’t do that he has only himself to blame.
I’m concerned about two things. 1) America wants to move on. Both the left and the right don’t want to see either Clinton’s or Bush’s face on our TV anymore. And we certainly don’t want to see her puss shaking hands with foreign leaders when the next international crisis comes around. She and Bill just have too much baggage. BTW I don’t think we want to see Kerry either. 2 Putting Hillary gently in a place where the party and the nation can move beyond the politics of keeping the Clintons in power/hating the Clintons. Its been at least 12-14 years of that, it has to stop, and they need to go away… quietly. The Senate is a good place for sleepy politicians.
My Clinton fatigue is total.
But my feelings are not the key here. Half the Democratic Party feels quite differently than I do, and Hillary actually has a lot of support from the right, ironically.
The thought of having to listen to the media go on and on and on and on about either Clinton again makes me break out in hives.
did you really expect the “fun” to subside with the election? 😉
no comment. 🙂
OT, but how long are you going to be on the EC in january?
A week. Working on flight deals so anywhere from the 17/18th through the 24th/25th. The friend I’m staying with needs to go to UD on the 17th so I may fly in to Philly, will let you know.
We would love to see you here at Chez Cabin, you know. Keep me posted.
Add me to your wagon. I’m beyond effing livid.
BooMan is taking a deep nap on this issue. We ain’t in the land of Lincoln. In another post we have a running back and forth on this Clinton SoS issue.
I am warning that Obama will probably regret making this choice (if he makes it). That’s not a nap.
However, it doesn’t bother me very much. If he thinks he can handle it and this is what he wants, then he’s making his bed and he can lie in it. I think he may regret it, but I don’t think it’s really a big deal.
your buddy Al Giordano has some interesting observations with quotes from the NYT with Judge Abner Mikva:
if thing get out of control, he can always fire her.
The Lincolnesque comparisons are the facade for the public. The reality of his thinking is probably more like “Hold your friends close, and your enemies closer.” Ditto for the meeting with McCain yesterday. I cannot see any other logical reason for it.
The country has moved past the Clintons – Clinton retreads are NOT the change we voted for. Plus any involvement by any Clinton is a guarantee for drama on the scale of grand opera.
Perhaps this is all some kind of game of three-dimensional chess, where Obama puts strict criteria into place to evaluate cabinet members, then offers State to Hillary knowing she and Bill cannot cut the muster, putting her into a position where she has to back out gracefully, because of Bill. From Hillary’s perspective, is this laying the groundwork for a Clinton divorce “for the good of the country”?
It damned well better not end up that “Well, you know those ethics rules I put into place, they don’t apply to the Clintons, because the Clintons are special.
Just the fact that we’re discussing this proves that drama’s name is Clinton (except when it’s Lieberman).
Here is the view of a couple of people that know something about foreign affairs:
The Irresponsibility of Appointing Hillary Clinton Secretary of State
Who could not agree with your view and the view of the Christson’s here. Four years from now we are likely to be experiencing the same thing, talking about the same issues that have not changed. So the “change” president will give us pretty much the same. Well, we now learn that “Yes we can” was also a canned political slogan, and not more than that. “Change” was pretty much the same thing.
The winner of this election may not have been Obama at all, but getting rid of Bush (McCain) that made the difference.
“we now learn that “Yes we can” was also a canned political slogan, and not more than that. “Change” was pretty much the same thing.“
Some of us understood that from day one. Being realistic reduces one’s changes of being disappointed.
Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims understood just exactly what to expect from Obama when, the minute he had the nomination assured, he made a headlong dash to grovel at AIPAC’s feet. But it was already perfectly clear after his visit to the Holy Land when he thumbed his nose at the Palestinians, giving them no more than a cursory, and very low-profile nod, spending virtually his entire time there with Israeli officials, and taking the AIPAC-approved tour (Western Wall, Yad Vashim, etc.).
“good will toward Obama that has built up among Muslims in recent months“
Would that be the imaginary “good will” based on the silly assumption that Muslims are shallow enough to consider his middle name significant?
Liberal bloggers are up in arms over the “secret” ballot among the Democratic Senators that allowed Lieberman to keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee by a WIDE margin. It’s a good thing that Barack resigned his senate seat or the same bloggers would be demanding that he reveal how he voted on the matter.
Look, while the racists in America struggle to get used to the idea that a Black man will actually become POTUS. dyed in the wool super liberals likewise have to start learning how politics actually works. People understand this, REAL politics is the art of COMPROMISE. It’s similar to the intense negotiation that goes on relentlessly during a hard fought game of Monopoly. And in politics just like Monopoly if you don’t have anything worthwhile to trade, for all intents and purposes, you’re not even in the game.
Barack’s spiel about Lincoln keeping his enemies close is great folksy homespun stuff and it’s designed to comfort many people who worry over what will Barack do as President? But Barack is a hardball seasoned politician, and he told all of us (his supporters) during the primary that if he won the Presidency that from time to time he WOULD DO THINGS that many of us will disagree with; but he asked us to stay strong and keep the faith and all will come out alright in the end.
After January 20, Barack will inherit Bush’s shit house with the used toilet paper (“good job Brownie”)still on the floor. and Barack knows this. He also knows full well that as President that Job 1 on day 1 will be the economic DEPRESSION in America. Everybody knows this, especially first and foremost the Taliban know it, and they will make it a point to increase pressure on American troops both in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Now this is where the art of politics comes into play. Barack needs to make moves early to address these pressing needs. He has limited influence among the Democratic members of congress even though most of them campaigned for him during the Presidential campaign. Who, pray tell has the greatest influence among Democratic members of congress. I’ll give you a clue, his last name is Clinton. Since slick willy left the White House his main interest has been in international affairs as mirrored in his foundations. Now if the Obama team can negotiate transparency for those foreign donors to Bill’s foundations whose identities would create a conflict of interest for Hillary as Secretary of State, then she’s booked. And then Barack would get the use of every iota of Bill’s Congressional influence to get his (Barack’s) NATIONAL RECOVERY legislation through congress. Meanwhile Bill gets to use Hillary’s position to further his own international agenda. Short and simple folks, that’s politics.
Personally, I think Governor Bill Richardson is really the best candidate for Secretary of State, because he would not only bring lots of experience, but he could take highly creative approaches to many of the current international problems as he would not be dragging a lot of old baggage into the position. Unfortunately Governor Richardson doesn’t have anything big (towards fixing the economic collapse) that he can put on the political trading table. Many pundits have said Richardson should get the job because Obama owes it to the hispanics as a new constituency. However, symbolic political appointments as payback for such reasons are not job priority #1 for the incoming President. Once again, short and simple folks, that’s politics…..
is the art of getting the best deal for your side you can. People who make unforced concessions are failing at negotiation. Clinton is an unforced concession; her voters mostly came over, that rift was healed, and Obama has just kicked the sleeping dog.