Monday, November 17, 2008
Clinton as Secretary of State
The Guardian is reporting that Senator Hillary Clinton will accept President-elect Barack Obama's offer to become the Secretary of State. He is the least petty politician in recent memory, and his immersion in Doris Kearns Goodwin's book Team of Rivals, about President Abraham Lincoln's cabinet, is evidently affecting his decisions. Now let's see which Republicans he invites to join him.
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2 comments:
What's your opinion of her appointment? Hitchens summed up a number of concerns regarding this appointment on tonight's Hardball, citing both Bill Clinton's troubling ties to foreign leaders and HRC's behavior during the campaign as possible obstacles to her success. He also, accurately in my opinion, suggests that this would not further Obama's promise of Change We Can Believe In. Democrats rejected the Clinton machine (albeit narrowly) during the primaries and opted for Obama instead.
How will this choice affect those voters who expected Obama to rid his White House of the type of controversy and drama that has plagued the Clintons for past 16 years?
One last thing--Ken Silverstein proposes "Five Reasons Hillary Clinton Should Not Be Secretary of State," which can be found at the following address:
http://harpers.org/archive/2008/11/hbc-90003860
It's worth a read.
After reading the news today, it seems more apparent than before that this pick is a mistake. I think it's distracting from other transition efforts and causing unnecessary tension among staff members. Politico even reported that the decision was "greeted with ambivalence" by members of the transition team.
This story has taken over the news cycle, and whether or not this 'ambivalence' actually exists, the press will continue reporting it over the next week. As an Obama supporter since early 2007, this is a discouraging first impression of his presidency.
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