Hillary Clinton to Accept Secretary of State Job

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by DanS
I don't understand why Obama chose her. What's in it for him?

Keep you friends close, and your enemies closer...

Plus, there goes any chance she'd challenge him in 2012; kind of hard to criticize the job the Administration is doing when you're its most prominent cabinet secretary.

It's a pretty good move for Obama. But then, he gets to be her boss, whereas she ends up being MY boss. So...

[Kuciwalker]

Hillary

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
Maybe force gay marriage on all states. That might work.



In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea
With a craving in his loins for homosexuality
We don't give a **** about your damn morality
The gays are marching on

[Imran Siddiqui]

And when was the last time an 8-year outgoing administration couldn't put up a VP to carry the torch? (Before you say 2008, it hardly counts since there's nobody in the Bush administration of anywhere near the stature and name recognition that Clinton has

But we aren't talking about the END of a term, we are talking about the BEGINNING. And at the beginning of Bush's 1st term, there was no chance Cheney was going to run for President if there was an 8 year run. And Colin Powell had the stature and name recognition at State that Hillary has now.

[Darius871]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
But we aren't talking about the END of a term, we are talking about the BEGINNING.

Not sure what your point is here. I'm talking about the end-of-term implications of a term of a decision made in the beginning of a term.

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
at the beginning of Bush's 1st term, there was no chance Cheney was going to run for President if there was an 8 year run.

That was precisely my point; i.e. Bush : Cheney :: Obama : Biden. You don't think Obama (or even Biden) seriously plans on Biden running in 2016, do you? If not, then the analogy fits for the most part.

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Colin Powell had the stature and name recognition at State that Hillary has now.

...but Powell had publicly made clear more than once that he had no presidential ambitions, to the point that he'd turn down a nomination even if it were hypothetically offered to him on a silver platter; this stance and reputation didn't change even when polling showed he probably would have beat Bill Clinton 50-40 in 1996. Not so for Hillary, whose insatiable lust for the presidency has been, well, amply demonstrated for grueling months on end. That, and of course Powell broke with the administration and endorsed their Democratic successor. I don't see how the two are analogous at any point in time.

[notyoueither]

It seems like a good idea if the goal is to heal rifts with America's major allies. She will elicit a positive initial reaction in many places, I would think.

[Darius871]

Originally posted by notyoueither
It seems like a good idea if the goal is to heal rifts with America's major allies. She will elicit a positive initial reaction in many places, I would think.

Who, she that voted for the Iraq war and has made no mea culpa to this day? If anything this will taint his initial goodwill overseas.

[notyoueither]

I doubt it.

For many in other places, the only thing better than Hillary winning was Obama. I don't think her Senate voting record is going to hold the weight that it did for Yanks.

If her record were an issue, one would also point to her efforts to bring the US into the twentieth century wrt healthcare.

[Timexwatch]

The real victim in all this is Joe Biden. He's going to be locked in the EEOB like the crazy aunt in the attic.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Darius871
Not sure what your point is here. I'm talking about the end-of-term implications of a term of a decision made in the beginning of a term.

And considering how long Cabinet official stay in their jobs (only one has made it through Bush's in one and that's the Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao) and how they are seen (more like acting on direct orders from the President, rather than working with the President as VP's like GHW Bush and Al Gore were seen), it wouldn't make much sense to decide a Cabinet post was a springboard to the Presidency.

I mean look at Powell now. He's seen as basically falling in line with what the President told him to do. It is hard to distinguish yourself at State unless you navigate an international crisis well, but that usually doesn't lead to any plum elected office (ask James Baker or Madeline Albright).

That was precisely my point; i.e. Bush : Cheney :: Obama : Biden. You don't think Obama (or even Biden) seriously plans on Biden running in 2016, do you? If not, then the analogy fits for the most part.

And do you think that McCain would have been better served for the 2008 nomination as Secretary of Defense during that time? Because I think that would have been foolish. At least in the Senate he could be seen as his own person.

And Hell, Biden's only 5 years older than Clinton. He may be 74 in 2016, but Hillary will be 69. And seeing how age really hurt McCain (according to exit polls), I can't see either of them thinking they have a real decent chance if Obama goes 2 terms.

...but Powell had publicly made clear more than once that he had no presidential ambitions, to the point that he'd turn down a nomination even if it were hypothetically offered to him on a silver platter; this stance and reputation didn't change even when polling showed he probably would have beat Bill Clinton 50-40 in 1996. Not so for Hillary, whose insatiable lust for the presidency has been, well, amply demonstrated for grueling months on end. That, and of course Powell broke with the administration and endorsed their Democratic successor. I don't see how the two are analogous at any point in time.

That didn't prevent some from trying to get him to jump in in 2000 or think he may want it in the future. By taking the SecState job, it was somewhat of an indication, IMO, that he wasn't interested in high elected office, because the Cabinet is no place to launch a bid for anything as high than the Presidency, seeing as how its been so long since a serious bid came from there. There is a reason for that.

[Chemical Ollie]

I never imagined I would read 69 and Hillary in the same sentence

[Bosh]

Looks like Obama has found a way to keep her out of the country as much as possible so she doesn't **** up health care again.

Obama is a smart smart man

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Darius871


And when was the last time an 8-year outgoing administration couldn't put up a VP to carry the torch?

And when was the last time a SecState appointed at the beginning of a president's first term was still in office at the end of his second?

Moreover, if you're going to run for president from a cabinet office, State is probably the worst one to do it from; you have no domestic constituency, no reason to run around the US giving speeches and meeting with people -- in short, no real opportunity to build or maintain a domestic political network from your position. All cabinet officials have this problem to some extent, but it's particularly bad for SecState.

It's not a coincidence that we haven't elected a cabinet officer since the 1920s (Hoover) -- the decline of the cabinet as a presidential springboard coincides pretty neatly with the decline of candidates being hand-picked by party bosses. If Hillary takes this job, it's the end of her political career, and she must know that; the interesting question is why she wants to end it.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Timexwatch
The real victim in all this is Joe Biden. He's going to be locked in the EEOB like the crazy aunt in the attic.

That all depends on who the Deputy Secretary ends up being. If, as predicted, it's an Obama loyalist rather than a Clintonite, it's Hillary who ends up being the "victim" -- she'll be serving a president she disagrees with, her advice will have to compete with that of a Veep who is an agressive political player and much better-informed than she is, and her own stewardship of State wil be filtered through a White House crony. Again, I can see why Obama would do this -- I just can't see why Hillary would.

[Jon Miller]

Yeah, if she wanted to be president she should try to get a governorship.

JM

[Traianvs]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly

If Hillary takes this job, it's the end of her political career, and she must know that; the interesting question is why she wants to end it.

In 8 years the political landscape will have changed so dramatically, and by then she will be so old that she could content herself with a secretary of state position now, which isn't peanuts either.

Let's face it: a candidate's only got one serious chance of becoming president and she blew it in this election. Unless of course a deus ex machina flips the balance in her favour after all those years, but that's just so unlikely it's better not to rely on that.