I would advise her not to take the job. Frankly, I think the country is and will remain in bad shape, regardless of who runs the zoo. If Obama's presidency fails, she will be tainted by association.Which past Secretaries of State have improved their future political prospects? Well, there was Thomas Jefferson. And there were a few others in the first half-century of this nation's existence. But in more recent times...?
Let's put it this way: Did having the title "Secretary of State" on his resume improve Al Haig's chances of attaining the presidency? Did Colin Powell come out ahead? Who wants to vote for Condaleeza Rice for anything?
If Hillary takes the offer, Obama's supporters will blame her for any foreign policy stumbles. During the primary, quite a few Obots considered Hillary responsible for all the ills of humankind, up to and including poisoned dog food and the space shuttle disasters. I haven't checked Cheeto-land, but I suspect that the mouth-foamers are particularly foamy right now.
If she becomes the Secretary of State, she might as well put a sign on her desk reading "OFFICIAL SCAPEGOAT." Clinton-haters will constantly accuse her of sabotage. The accusation will make no sense, but they will make it nonetheless.
What if Obama decides to pursue an aggressive and unpopular stance against Iran? What if he stays in Iraq? What if he pulls out of Iraq and disaster ensues? (I see no good exit scenarios. Do you?) What if Obama wants to make good on his threat to take military action in (against?) Pakistan?
Hillary Clinton could find herself loyally defending and implementing foolish policies that she will not have set. And her name will be on those policies when they fail. Consider the cautionary tale of Colin Powell, who might be president right now if he hadn't hauled water for W.
How long would she keep the job? Maybe two years. Maybe three. Hell, maybe one. Obama could fire her at any time, using any setback (and setbacks are inevitable) as an excuse. Why would she give up her Senate seat for that?
Visualize this: Obama keeps her on the job for a mere six months, until Joe Biden's predicted disaster hits. She gets the blame and the boot. Obi will have ruined Hillary's political career, thereby taking her out of the running in 2012. Maybe that's the plan.
Hillary Clinton would be foolish to take the gig. If Bill Richardson wants it, let him have it.
By the way... It is telling, perhaps, that Larry Johnson wants Hillary to take the job. To an increasing degree, Johnson's goal seems to be to seed the PUMA movement with Republican talking points. The Republicans would love a scenario in which they enter the 2012 race with both the Obama name and the Clinton name tarnished. If Hillary spends any amount of time in Obama's cabinet, and if Obama's presidency fails (as I think it will) -- then who would be a strong Democratic candidate?
17 comments:
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Joseph, I can't imagine that she would want anything from Obama's administration. She would be wise to hold onto her seat in the Senate where she could be most effective and pursue her goals of Universal Healthcare, etc. I don't trust this guy at all. Now, you were very astute about techdude and the birth certificate, have you seen this?
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2008/11/exclusive_did_n.html
In the comments, I was most interested in one by the formal postal worker who said the USPS date stamp was an impossibility.
I agree with you Joseph on now wanting to see Senator Clinton as Secretary of State. I greatly prefer to see Senator Clinton as Senate Majority Leader. Who better?
djmm
I agree completely. I think the whole thing is a way for Obama to neutralize Hillary, who obviously still scares him silly. This ends her political career AND removes her from any influence on her key legislative goals: Healthcare and HOLC. If Obama's is true to form, he will steal her ideas for both of those and claim all the credit.
VERY bad idea. I would tell her to run, not walk, from such a proposition. And I certainly hope Bill advises her strongly against it.
As the Godfather used to say, "there's no percentage in it."
I really have mixed emotions about it. I think Hillary would be a spectacular SoS, but like you, her detractors will be ready to pin any stumble by Obama firmly to her backend. Not to mention the MSM who will not be able to help themselves and will be constantly harping on, or making allusion to, "tension" between the White House and the State Department. I said as much to my husband last night, and then about 30 mintues later caught the You Tube of Keith Olbermann's coverage of the story. Not 3-1/2 minutes into his piece he proved my theory correct by bringing up to his guest the possibility of "too many cooks."
I really hate it when I'm right.
Joseph you knocked this one out of the park. Earlier today over at Not Your Sweetie I posted a comment in which I worried about some of these exact same scenarios. Hillary would be a fool to take that job. Even being a marginalized Senator she still has a voice and she still has a vote. If she takes that job she'll wind up on the outside and utterly destroyed as a politician. And I hope you are wrong about Obama's presidency being a failure. We desperately need some things to go right. Unfortunately, I am sure you are right on this. The problem is we've got only a few actual adults in Washington right now. I can think of four. Hillary, McCain, Hutchinson and Cornyn. Everybody else I just don't know about.
I’m not surprised that Hilary and Obama will most likely end up working on the same team in the white house, Obama as President and Hill-dawg as Secretary of State. Do you know what one major mutual thing they shared in common was? They both have shared a vision to lead American. Hilary didn’t win the presidential election but isn’t it ironic that she will probably end up in one of the most important leadership positions in the Government. Her vision to lead was so strong that she could taste it – and now a senior leadership position has attracted her to the white house – unbelievable.
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I was discussing this with someone this morning and we both came to the same conclusion as you did: Hillary will be blamed for any problems and her political career will be ruined. Even if problems arise that are very clearly Obama's fault, the media and Obot blogs will pin the blame on Hillary, claiming that she is the experienced one and she should have advised him better (as if it's a woman's job to always protect male fools from harming themselves and others).
You're spot on again! There is a post at Hillbuzz with contact info to urge Hillary to turn this offer down!
The best way to contact Senator Hillary Clinton or her Washington, DC staff is either by fax at (202) 228-0282, phone at (202) 224-4451 or preferably by email http://clinton.senate.gov/contact/webform.cfm
-jen
I've become critical of HRC, given how she's chosen to make invisible the deranged misogyny and dirty campaigning of Team Hope 'n' Change. It's nice that she's over it, but I'm not. That being said, my critique is based on reality, not frenzied CDS. CDS is still irrational and unhinged, I still think it's destructive, and it's still a tool for BO. And that's what this would be: a tool for BO (so to speak), his latest lighting rod, the focusing of attention away from his sorry lack of accomplishments or principle. Hillary Clinton should not accept this offer, if it indeed has been made. It would be the final nail in the long, distasteful, ugly crucifixion.
Needless to say, if Hillary refuses the job and things go bad, she will be blamed.
If she takes the job and things go well, she will get no credit.
"Not wanting" instead of "now wanting" -- I am so ashamed....
Alice, she had to do what she had to do, to still have the power to have a chance to make a difference. The chance to make a difference -- that's all that matters. That said, she does not have to take a position with a higher profile but less actual power, especially when it would leave her vulnerable to being stabbed in the back.
djmm
I really hope she doesn't take it. She would become marginalized and vulnerable to scapegoating. She should know that she'll get blamed for any mishap after the way she's been treated over her supposed war vote. Hillary, please say "Thanks, but no thanks."
Joseph, do you realize that the comment left at 4:00 pm is an advertisement?
I don't often disagree with you, Joe, but I certainly do this time.
Already posted this on No Quarter, so I'll just copy it here:
"To kgirl1028 (and the others who think Obama will offer Hillary SecState in order to humiliate and control her, then fire her):
I'm not sure about this, but I'm thinking more and more that Hillary as SecState was part of what seems to have been a very, very tough bargain the Big Dawg struck with Obama back in September.
The Clintons have long been rumored to have the goods on Obama, something that would destroy him politically, if not actually land him in jail, but didn't want to use it during the campaign for whatever reason.
I suspect it--whatever "it" is--got used in September, in private, with the threat that it would be made public unless Obama agreed a) to start campaigning as a real Democrat instead of DINO as he had been doing;
and b) if he won the GE, he would put Clintons and/or Clinton people in key positions in his administration.
So Hillary gets State, Hillary supporter Bobby Jr. gets her senate seat--and maybe, just maybe, our first black president gets a third (albeit shadow) term while the guy with the melanin plays prez on television, much as Martin Sheen* did before him.
*The West Wing was based on the Clinton White House, remember, and Sheen liked to refer to himself as the "acting President." ;-)
***********
Tinfoily I know, but it's the only thing that explains the abrupt turnabout on the part of both the Clintons and Obama within a couple of weeks of the convention, during which convention, you may recall, Hill & Bill (and James Carville) signaled not only that they supported us PUMAs, but that they would be voting for their friend John McCain come election day.
Come to think of it, Carville (prominently displayed Puma-brand sneakers) and Hillary (pantsuit in bright PUMA orange) signaled, Bill pretty much came out and said it. Remember Candidate X vs. Candidate Y?
--LandOLincoln
This is a very old ploy. If she takes it she will be giving up her Senate seat to dance to his tune and then be humiliated and fired. This would completely remove her as competition both politically and personally. This to me sounds like the VP taunt. Spread the word that she is being considered only to not give it to her because she is not worthy. It is more humiliation strategy which seems to be his trademark.
For whatever reason (and I have several ideas) the Obamas (plural) really seem to despise the Clintons (plural again) and it is hardily returned. The Clintons were required to campaign for the one as a form of fealty, bending the knee if you will. This is another characteristic that Pres elect Obama shares with GWB. Neither Clinton will be allowed anywhere near the WH as they were never loyalists and never will be.
Thank you for completely ignoring my points. ;-)
Apparently I have more faith than most of you in the political acuity of both Clintons, because I believe that, if she were to accept the offer (assuming it was actually made) it would mean that my thesis is correct and the Clintons have Obama by the proverbial short hairs (guaranteed job security for Hillary, in other words) and NOT that Hillary's a naif blindly trusting in Obama's nonexistent good faith.
If she turns it down--as I understand she's already signaling she will do--it simply means that I was wrong about the quid pro quo involved (and the short hairs) and there's some other reason Bill Clinton wound up campaigning so vigorously for a man he was said to have called (correctly) a "Chicago thug" just a few short weeks ago, and some other reason Obama is all of a sudden surrounded by former Clinton staffers instead of other "Chicago thugs"--though of course Rahm Emanuel fits both categories. ;)
--LandOLincoln
PS: Despite my handle, I've been a New Mexican since 1991 (and was an Angeleno for 21 years before that) and like most New Mexicans, I've been quite pleased with Richardson's performance as governor--his approval rating is consistently in the 70% range. Not quite Palin territory, but not too shabby.
So I was really surprised by his inept primary performace, and then disgusted and outraged by his treachery towards the Clintons.
But he does seem to have some diplomatic skilz--remember the North Koreans?--and he's already given us the wonderful Rail Runner and lured a goodly segment of Hollywood over here to "Little L.A." as Burque is often called, so now Obama can have him if he wants him, as far as I'm concerned. In return we get Diane Denish--definitely the better part of that deal.
From a purely political standpoint, I think secretary of state gives her a better out if the administration takes a turn for the worst. If she's in the Senate, she will have to get her hands dirty in domestic policy. And you can't be fired from the Senate.
Don't get any fanciful ideas about Hillary taking the lead in the Senate. The old guard is still there and still very much in charge, and Obama is still the president. He will get what he wants, and she will be a part of it. Secretary of State at least gives her more freedom from the admin if she so chooses.
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