Hillary Clinton to Accept Secretary of State Job

[GePap]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
I just can't see why Hillary would.

Maybe she is crazy enough to think she might actually achieve something big in that post. Or maybe she just wants all those reward miles...

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Traianvs

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.

I don't think that's true. Nixon is one example. Reagan is a second. Many people think that Al Gore could easily have grabbed the Dem nomination this year if he'd wanted it, and certainly would have won the presidency in this political climate.

Comebacks happen. But Hillary's unlikely comeback is certainly made more unlikely by a move to Foggy Bottom.

[Traianvs]

dp

[Traianvs]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly


I don't think that's true. Nixon is one example. Reagan is a second. Many people think that Al Gore could easily have grabbed the Dem nomination this year if he'd wanted it, and certainly would have won the presidency in this political climate.

Comebacks happen. But Hillary's unlikely comeback is certainly made more unlikely by a move to Foggy Bottom.

I only remember Nixon, when did Reagan attempt to go for president (and fail) then?

And Al Gore would probably have gotten the dem nomination, but he's too controversial for the conservatives of your country. He would be another divisive figure like Bush was on the other side of the political spectrum.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by GePap


Maybe she is crazy enough to think she might actually achieve something big in that post.

Maybe. But her great political passions all revolve around domestic policy; surely she'd achieve more -- and more that matters to her -- by staying in the Senate and rising to majority leader, which is the trajectory she's on at the moment.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Traianvs


I only remember Nixon, when did Reagan attempt to go for president (and fail) then?

He challeged Pres. Ford for the 1976 Republican nomination and lost.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Traianvs


I only remember Nixon, when did Reagan attempt to go for president (and fail) then?

And Al Gore would probably have gotten the dem nomination, but he's too controversial for the conservatives of your country. He would be another divisive figure like Bush was on the other side of the political spectrum.

Reagan made a strong run in 1976, taking most of the Southern and Western states; luckily for Ford, the GOP was (unlike today) still a viable party in the Northeast, and carrying those states narrowly secured Ford's nomination.

(edit: GePap beat me to it)

And I'm not sure what conservative feelings about Gore have to do with anything; wander on over to FreeRepublic or RedState if you think they find Obama "acceptable."

[Imran Siddiqui]

Yeah, but the 1976 was basically Reagan's coming out party. He was well known, but he wasn't particularly considered a big player under the '76 primary. Basically how well he did in 1976 was surprisingly good.

How poor Hillary did was surprisingly bad. There is a difference.

And if Obama is successful, that means she's 69 when she has a chance to run. Maybe she believes that being so far down in the seniority in Senate just isn't worth it and she'd rather be in a more high profile position to end her career.

[Ramo]

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

The Clinton brand. Obama's going to have a tough time with domestic policy over the next couple years, and rest of the world would feel neglected unless he puts someone with a lot of independent credibility and star power at Foggy Bottom. I think it's a decent choice. At least, I think it's a lot better than the other names that were bandied about for this post (Kerry, Richardson, Hagel, Lugar).

Clinton gets a strong association with Obama if the Presidency goes well, in which case she gets the Democratic nomination in a walk in 2016. If it goes badly, the nomination wouldn't be worth a warm bucket of spit anyways. And seniority severely limits the amount of work she can do in the Senate. She can't chair a committee, Baucus appears to be point on health care, and even if Reid were to go (and there are no apparent signs of that happening), Durbin (and maybe even Schumer at this point) could block her ascent.

[Boris Godunov]

A potential bonus for Clinton as SoS means she will no longer be able to raise money to pay off the $7 million in campaign debt she has. Since $5 million of that is supposed to go to Mark Penn, he stands to get screwed out of his fees. I'd say the $5 million is a good penalty for one the most egregious cases of political malpractice in recent history.

[Ramo]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
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).

Albright's an academic, and Baker is a crappy pol (he lost every bid for elected office he made). Clinton has a large constituency, a high profile, and lots of ambition. And she's a lot more competent than people generally give her credit for being (for real incompetence, see McCain). If she distinguishes herself, and if the Obama presidency goes well, she has an excellent shot at the nomination.

The field in 8 years probably isn't going to be that intimidating. I think the only person who clearly would be a superior candidate (Spitzer) disqualified himself. Maybe Warner, Napolitano, or Sebelius? There still isn't a credible statewide Hispanic pol (Richardson doesn't count); I was hoping for a Noriega victory in TX, but no dice. Paterson would be pretty damn cool, but I'd assume that the whole blindness thing might be problematic. 'Course there might be yet another up and comer elected in two or four years who could shake things up...

Edit: And Schweitzer. Dude has potential...

[Imran Siddiqui]

'Course there might be yet another up and comer elected in two or four years who could shake things up...

Of course. In 1984, who knew that in 8 years, you'd have Gov. Clinton coming out of no where. Same for 1992 and Gov. Bush.

In addition to the whole, the vast majority of cabinet members don't stay all the way through.

[Timexwatch]

Originally posted by Ramo
Paterson would be pretty damn cool, but I'd assume that the whole blindness thing might be problematic.

[Ramo]

It could lead to the bestest Presidential pranks ever

[Darius871]

I blind man would be too easy to assassinate. We need somebody like Jackson who would assault his own assassin.