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Friday, November 14, 2008
President-elect Barack Obama offered Sen. Hillary Clinton the position of Secretary of State during their meeting Thursday in Chicago, according to two senior Democratic officials. She requested time to consider the offer, the officials said.
Multiple reports have indicated that Clinton was under serious consideration for the nation's top diplomatic post, in addition to Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and Chuck Hagel, the Republican Senator from Nebraska.
A longtime aide to the New York Senator argued to the Huffington Post that there are strong reasons why Obama would be inclined to make the post worth Clinton's time.
"She is a beloved figure around the world. She has visited over 80 countries, as first lady and senator together," the aide told the Huffington Post. Noting the fact that Clinton learned as first lady how to be effective as a "backdoor diplomat," the former White House assistant said Clinton mastered "a lot of the intricacies of these issues before ever joining the Senate's Armed Services committee. She's tough; she had meetings with some Prime Ministers and Presidents where she had to deliver some blunt messages for us...."
As for Clinton, the Secretary of State post offers her tremendous responsibilities as well as a national platform from which, theoretically, she could launch a second White House run. But it also takes her away from the domestic issues, like health care reform, that she seemed poised to tackle as one of the Senate's leading Democrats.
I am actually quite surprised by this, but in a way it makes sense. For speculations sake I am going to float a theory...
1. The Senate was gearing up for a fight over who would shape health care policy. I theorized back in July that Kennedy endorsed Obama in exchange for Obama helping Kennedy getting to pass health care reform, something that Kennedy has fought for since the 1970s and would bring Kennedy out of the shadow of his brothers. If Hillary were President, credit for any health care plan would be given to Hillary.
In my mind, this was confirmed when Kennedy refused to create a sub-committee on health care reform for Hillary to head up.
Making Hillary the Secretary of State prevents the fight in the Senate and clears the path for Kennedy to push health care through, finally getting Ted and the Kennedy family a landmark piece of legislation.
2. Making Hillary the Secretary of State also removes Hillary from her very strong policy positions on Domestic issues, making it much easier for Obama to push through his own agenda without having to contend with Clinton who would have a ton of political independence.
Instead, Obama removes her from the equation and the person that replaces her will have far less political clout, not to mention the fact that they will owe Obama for their appointment, at least in part.
3. Hillary as Sec State gives Obama more access to Bill as an unofficial ambassador... a MASSIVE asset. This move brings both the Clintons under Obama's tent as opposed to just having them in the general campground area.
4. With Biden's massive gaffeness and unpredictability, Obama has probably learned that Biden is not the steadfast foreign policy sage he thought he was. He recognizes that he may need help on a 3am call after all, and Biden isn't the one to turn to.
5. Obama is planning for the future.
Obama knows that with the Foreign Policy situation and the economic disaster that is sure to mark the next 4 years of his candidacy is likely to make the 2012 election much more difficult than this one.
He has also learned that Biden is a campaign liability and does not have the strong bolstering effect they had hoped. Biden is a gaffe machine and a loose cannon. He is also getting much older, making the possibility that he would be running for President in 2016 incredibly unlikely.
Not having an incumbent Vice President run for the Presidency is bad for the party and significantly decreases the chance of your party winning.
If the 2012 election looks like it might be tough, I would be willing to bet that Biden will retire and will not run for a second term as VP, clearing the way for Clinton to step up from Secretary of State to the VP position... giving Obama the Hillary Horde and a campaign machine that rivals himself.
It also sets up Hillary and the DNC for President in 2016.
That is my thinking... I may be making logical leaps, but it makes sense to me. What do you think?
8 Comments:
Better to have the people of New York as your boss than Barack Obama. This is a good time for Hillary to "just say NO!"
Meanwhile, how about Bill Clinton as Ambassador to the UN??
Also, this new Calif. lawsuit is worth reading. In addition to questions about BO eligibility based on birth, there are numerous other citizenship (eligibility) questions:
http://americamustknow.com/Documents/Final%20writ%20Keyes%20v%20Bowen.pdf
It just needs to be filed in the other 49 states -- especially those that Obama carried that have Republican Secretaries of State.
If Hillary Clinton accepts the position of Secretary of State from Obama she will, officially and forever, be to me: persona non grata.
Regardless of what her motivations might be; her desire to continue her campaign agenda to heal America's image worldwide, along with her wanting to shape the foreign policy agenda of the new administration in the Post-Bush world.
Both of which she could do with one hand tied behind her back, given her and her husband’s gravitas around the world; she has been to 80+ countries and before the campaign Obama had been to so few foreign countries one could count them on the hand tied behind Hillary’s back.
However, this is nothing but a politically expedient move on the part of the A$$h*le-in-Chief-elect to rein in the Clinton's and their political power once and for all. By offering this position, and if Hillary accepts, Obama would essentially neuter the Clinton Machine and he would kill her chances of ever running against him again because she is in his Cabinet.
Many think he defeated the Clinton Machine in the Primary, but ask any Puma and the will tell you, that is not in fact, the case. He simply out-gamed them. There are many out their waiting and hoping that 2012 will get here tomorrow and they are not going to allow for another stolen primary!
If Barack Obama truly wanted to “fundamentally change Washington”; why is he filling his transition team and future cabinet with so many former Clintonistas?
I’ll tell you why; the man is a fraud and he knows it, he has no idea how to govern and he knows it; and he needs the Clinton’s and the Clintonistas and we all know it.
If he needs Hillary and the Clintonistas why didn’t she get elected?
Madeline Albright, Condi Rice, and now possibly Hillary. Is it me, or has Secretary of State, as prestigious as that is, become the Lifetime TV of cabinet appointments?
I would prefer that she stay in the Senate rather than serve at the pleasure of this thug. She'll be scapegoated the first time something goes wrong.
Do any of you realize the imminent and constant threats from terrorists worldwide? Everyone needs to put aside his/her own ambitions for Hillary in 2012 and realize that *she* is the one person who will keep us safe, or surely attempt to do so. Her political power and ability to stand on par with world leaders renders her perfect for the job of Secty of State. As much as I loathe the Pres.(S)elect, I realize that we can all sleep easier at night with Hillary nearby when that call comes in at 3am. Put your love for her aside, this is about our country. Of course, the sadist may not appoint her.
Piper:
You are correct and I as a Patriot and HRC supporter turned a McCain suppoter and Log Cabin Republican-a gay group within the republican party that believes in smaller government, lower taxes, less intrusion into individual's lives, and strict adherence to the constitution on civil liberties.
And further, LCR believe that working within the party that is the most opposed to gay issues with the philosophy of “inclusion wins” by winning one heart and mind at a time. Believe it or not, there are a lot of Republicans that are on our side than one might think and are willing to say so, whereas Democrats pay lip service to equality.
Below are some of the things Democrats have done, it's a list put together by Reverend Wayne Perryman, who is trying to obtain reparations from Democrats for blacks to redress the legacy on blacks in America. One of the few reasons I am no longer a Dem.
http://www.black-and-right.com/2...tuck-on-stupid/
You be the judge.
Some fun facts of the Democratic Party History …
• Democrats supported slavery and fought and gave their lives to expand it
• Democrats supported and passed the Fugitive Slave Laws of 1793 & 1854
• Democrats supported and passed the Missouri Compromise to protect slavery
• Democrats supported and passed the Kansas Nebraska Act to expand slavery
• Democrats supported and backed the Dred Scott Decision
• Democrats supported and passed Jim Crow Laws
• Democrats supported and passed Black Codes
• Democrats opposed educating blacks and murdered our teachers
• Democrats opposed the Reconstruction Act of 1867
• Democrats opposed the Freedman Bureau as it pertained to blacks
• Democrats opposed the Emancipation Proclamation
• Democrats opposed the 13th , 14th, and 15th Amendments to end slavery, make blacks citizens and give blacks the right to vote
• Democrats opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1866
• Democrats opposed the Civil Right Act of 1875 and had it overturned by U.S. Supreme Court
• Various Democrats opposed the 1957 Civil Rights Acts
• Various Democrats argued against the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Acts
• Various Democrats argued against the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Acts
• Various Democrats voted against the 1972 Equal Employment Opportunity Act
• Democrats supported and backed Judge John Ferguson in the case of Plessey v Ferguson
• Democrats supported the School Board of Topeka Kansas in the case of Brown v The Board of Education of Topeka
• Southern Democrats opposed desegregation and integration
• Democrats started and supported several terrorist organizations including the Ku Klux Klan, an organization dedicated to use any means possible to terrorize African Americans
and those who supported African Americans.
Topher: in LA not L.A.
Topher... Don't forget that in 2008 the Democrats voted against GLBT rights in 3 states.
I think it's a ploy to further destroy the Clintons...see the story from today's Sunday Telegraph, UK...more tricks...float her name, then bring out the dirt on why she can't be named, esp. after that crap about all the "vetting" so appointees won't sully Obama's "reputation"...
The Past Week: November 9-15, Recaps & Random Thoughts (Suddenly Soiled Sarah Gets Advice from Katie Couric, Joke “Journalist”; Gov Luv; Sunday Telegraph, UK Previews More Clinton Trashing?; Major Stray Dog Update
http://insightanalytical.wordpress.com/2008/11/16/the-past-week-november-9-15-recaps-random-thoughts-suddenly-soiled-sarah-gets-advice-from-katie-couric-joke-journalist-gov-luv-sunday-telegraph-uk-previews-more-clinton-trashing-maj/
THC - I, for one, love your "leaps" of logic.
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