By now you’ve probably heard the rumors that Barack Obama offered Hillary Clinton the position of Secretary of State in his administration.
Should she take this job?
If I were Hillary, I would say no thanks. She can be a senator for life, and probably will be in the majority party for most of that time. She could be the next Ted Kennedy.
At most she could run Obama’s State Department for eight years, and probably not even that long. He could replace her at any time.
It’s great for both of them to have this news leaked, however. It shows he is not holding grudges from the primaries and respects her skills. She obviously has the contacts with foreign leaders and the experience to do this job well.
What do you think?
UPDATE: Mr. desmoinesdem thinks that if she hopes to run for president again in 2016, she should definitely take this job. If she has given up all hope of becoming president and wants primarily to influence policy during the coming years, she should stay in the Senate. That sounds right to me.
7 Comments
What about Bill?
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.
riverdog9 Fri 14 Nov 9:41 PM
Bill Richardson
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.
keith-nichols Sun 16 Nov 10:09 AM
SOS
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.
american007 Sun 16 Nov 9:45 PM
I don't know whether it's a ploy
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.
desmoinesdem Mon 17 Nov 7:36 AM