Should Hillary Clinton accept Obama's offer to become Secretary of State?

What about Bill? (4.00 / 2)

Is he going to give up the Global Initiative, which accepts money from all over the world?  Is he exempt from the vetting that everyone else will have to undergo?  What about those uranium mines in Uzbekistan or wherever they were?  Bill is a walking conflict of interest, on days he isn't dressed up as a loose cannon.

What is the balance of power among Clinton, Biden, Obama, and whoever is National Security adviser?  I would be happy to see Biden in the ascendancy on foreign policy.  Clinton, not so much.  (See:  Kyl-Lieberman amendment) Team of Rivals is one thing.  Team of Rabid Weasels is another.  I would like to see John Kerry in this post.  He is multi-lingual and far more experienced than Clinton.

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by: riverdog9 @ Fri Nov 14, 2008 at 21:41:48 PM CST

Horrible (0.00 / 0)

conflict of interest. First thing I thought of as well.

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by: ragbrai08 @ Sat Nov 15, 2008 at 07:14:03 AM CST

[ Parent ]

future Ted Kennedy (4.00 / 1)

I tend to disagree with the 'lioness of the senate' line of argument. TK's been in the senate longer than I've been alive. The Carter challenge was over a quarter century ago. Realistically, she doesn't have that kind of time, and all of the signals from her colleagues have been of the 'get in line' variety.

However, I'm not a fan of Hillary! 2016, and I do think the Dems are preserving her chances just in case -- including this silly rhetoric about 'champion of women and the working-class,' given that these will be two target areas for the GOP in the future. If 'card check' passes, there will be massive efforts to unionize Hispanics, but this will come at the expense of alienating more established (lean white) union rank-and-file, who fear that union power by accretion will benefit management at the expense of the bottom (not entirely unfounded). It could be 1980 all over again.

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by: ragbrai08 @ Sat Nov 15, 2008 at 08:21:36 AM CST

I don't understand your argument (4.00 / 1)

Every union member I know supports card check.  I don't see any divide on this issue between established members and potential members.

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by: corncam @ Sat Nov 15, 2008 at 10:32:49 AM CST

[ Parent ]

the issue isn't card check legislation itself (4.00 / 2)

Card check reduces the barriers to organizing. In principle, it's a gateway to larger union coverage.

The issue is the lack of resolution on immigration reform (and a host of associated issues like work visas). How this pertains to ramped-up organizing efforts is outlined, in part, here.

Concern/alarm over the temporary/guest-worker program are not unfounded, IMO. It's not for nothing that the CTW unions are aligned with this bunch on the issue of guest-workers. The US Chamber of Commerce, Tyson Food ... all friends of the worker and happen to be shaping our immigration policy with the tacit approval (last para) of some elements of organized labor.  

Some stats from the Pew Hispanic Center (2006) giving percentage of workers currently without status ("illegal") in various occupations:

Insulation workers  36%
Ag workers          29%
Drywall/ceiling     28%
Meat & Poultry      27%
Brick/stone         25%

It stands to reason that if part of your workforce is either without status or of temporary status, or 'on the path to citizenship,' then you are looking at a serious erosion in collective bargaining power. 'On the path' means in limbo while various issues like border security are resolved. Guest-worker programs represent indentured servitude. The notion of accepting these terms and coming back in five years with your 'worker movement' to fight for fairness is just silly. Let's fight for fairness first.

From a political perspective, when I see articles like this,  I wonder if Dems/unions are slated to become the public face of workers w/ unresolved status. As it stands now, unions are scooping up a lot of undocumented workers, because it's not their responsibility to ascertain worker eligibility (for example, UFCW/Swift).

These issues are not limited to semi-skilled/unskilled/trade labor. In my county, the public school system is utilizing women from the Philippines who are teacher-certified overseas. They pay an agency overseas $10K-$12K to get placed in a job and a shared living situation (because housing is not affordable in the area!) The unions are looking the other way, while the  school system cites teacher shortages. There's a fine line between 'shortages' and a fair wage, IMO. Teachers come in through the H1-B (tech workers) back door (there is no cap for teachers).  

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by: ragbrai08 @ Sun Nov 16, 2008 at 09:38:30 AM CST

[ Parent ]

You have teachers who were certified overseas? (0.00 / 0)

You have teachers who were certified overseas?  
What county is this?  
Where is the ISEA?  

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by: corncam @ Sun Nov 16, 2008 at 16:46:58 PM CST

[ Parent ]

ragbrai08 resides in a different state (4.00 / 1)

for what it's worth.

Invite other Iowa political junkies to join us at Bleeding Heartland.

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by: desmoinesdem @ Sun Nov 16, 2008 at 18:28:01 PM CST

[ Parent ]

corncam, (0.00 / 0)

I'm in MD, just a p/t visitor to IA. The school district is just outside of Washington, DC, a very expensive area.

There's an op-ed today in the Denver Post, against card check for the usual biz reasons.

This is more or less political theatre. Sure, big business will go to the mat over the issue, but really, they are prepared to settle (for the sake of 'unity'), if necessary (and that's a big 'if'), for a trapped workforce w/ a defanged union acting as custodian. It's well worth mentioning on a liberal blog because white-collar liberals made a mistake by ignoring what was happening in manufacturing back in the 80s. No excuses, this time. I am sympathetic to and eager to see working conditions improve for immigrants via unionization and support union expansion, but not under conditions that will undermine the entire US workforce -- because this basic model is already working its way up through the system.

One bright light is that apparently Merkley (OR-Sen) won his race by forging some sort of an alliance across blue-collar/white collar lines:

The Great American Class War ravaging the industrial sector is now pillaging the information sector, too. As Intel boasts of outsourcing, HP lays off thousands and Wall Street eviscerates 401(k) plans, a new blue-collar/white-collar solidarity is emerging. That means today, as during the Great Depression, progressive economic arguments increasingly work across cultural, geographic and employment divides, tectonically realigning politics and - potentially - policy.

I really hope we are starting to 'get it' -- we don't need to prostrate ourselves for these overarching, greedy entities managing the race to the bottom.

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by: ragbrai08 @ Mon Nov 17, 2008 at 17:58:14 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Bill Richardson (4.00 / 2)

Has a proven record in diplomacy.  The man is not afraid to sit down across the table from an armed man.  He did this in Irag.  He also did this in Somalia when he went to rescue the aid worker.  He did say it is scary when you are sitting in a room with teenagers holding AK47s.

He has experience as Energy Secrtary and Ambassador to the United Nations.  Plus he can bring personal history as an American grwoing up in a foreign country.

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by: keith nichols @ Sun Nov 16, 2008 at 10:09:43 AM CST

SOS (4.00 / 1)

The job requirement for the next Secretary of State is six words long:

Can get along with Joe Biden

Regardless of who gets the SOS job, Joe is going to be the foreign-affairs point man of this administration. Whoever can work with him and not get in his way will get the job.

IMO, Hillary would be a fool to take the job. I think it's a ploy to put her in an apolitical position so she won't be able to keep Obama in check. She would do a good job, no doubt, but we need people in the Senate who are going to call Obama out from time to time.  

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by: American007 @ Sun Nov 16, 2008 at 21:45:22 PM CST

I don't know whether it's a ploy (0.00 / 0)

to get her out of the way. Maybe he thinks she'll say no but wants to be seen as having respected her abilities enough to offer her a prestigious job.

I couldn't agree more that we need our leaders in Congress to push Obama in the right direction.

Invite other Iowa political junkies to join us at Bleeding Heartland.

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by: desmoinesdem @ Mon Nov 17, 2008 at 07:36:14 AM CST

[ Parent ]