The Huffington post confirms that Obama has indeed offered Hillary the State Department. Politico has a deeper analysis. My plan is to cover Doris Goodwin's "Team of Rivals" for our January meet-up, it's the book that Obama claims to have shaped his philosophy of governing and leadership, and in that light he is embracing his former rival. (More below the fold)
But what does this say about the message of "change" if he is filling the white house with "team Clinton", does it worry the Obama fans? After a little thinking I think that Obama is handling it very well, absorbing a host of talented people who were loosely associated with the Clinton administration gives him Washington expertise which will be much needed. Also as the article mentions, this prevents any significant clash with Hillary. What Obama is keeping out though are the Mark Penns and Harold Ickes who are too closely associated the Clintons and were too a large extent responsible for the infighting in her campaign. Does not mesh well with no-drama Obama team.
Should Hillary accept? I would think that her main interest lies in domestic policy, especially health-care. One day she could aspire to be the Senate leader, if she drops out of the senate it may not be too soon that she can return. Furthermore, it'll be difficult for her to run against Obama in 2012 should the opportunity arise. Also, she'll be putting her career at the mercy of Obama. Will she be a great secretary of State? Probably better than Powell or Rice, no worse than Christopher or Albright, but probably not as good as Baker.
Kerry is the other candidate, he brought Obama in national spotlight, so he might be "owed" something, but personally I would really like to see Kerry in Homeland Security, that's his expertise and I think that's where he can be best utilized.
Friday, November 14, 2008
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2 comments:
I'm not sure if Hillary, as a Secretary of State, will be able to add any value to the administration's thoughts when Biden (and most likely Kerry/Richardson or both!) will be around.
Given her "wonkiness" and no dearth of domestic spheres which would need major intervention in the coming days - she should be entrusted to lead from the Senate.
Now it seems that Bill's financials might undermine the situation for Hillary, but I also heard that Obama is not as satisfied with Richardson and Kerry. Politico reports that its
Hillary's team which has been leaking the news on the appointment. So they might be either trying to bulldoze Obama, or getting ready to provide all docs.
Its ironic that after calling Obama naive during the debates, (for agreeing to sit down with Iranians), it could be Hillary who is actually sitting down with the Iranian foreign minister.
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