by Damozel | I discussed this earlier, but the rumors seem to be gathering force. Hillary as Secretary of State? As I said earlier, that would be such a good call. Marc Ambinder and others say that the two met yesterday.
Three independent sources say that President-elect Barack Obama met yesterday with Sen. Hillary Clinton in Chicago.
The meeting took place at Obama's transition offices in the mid-afternoon...
One knowledgeable source said that the meeting was "not an interview." The source would not elaborate. (Marc Ambinder)
CNN says that the meeting's purpose was to discuss Clinton's future role in his administration. It also says that she was surprised by the rumors that she was under consideration for this particular role. But Chris Cillizza says that "a source close to Hillary Clinton" says it's a good possibility.
This is the position I thought he should offer her from the start. It's a perfect fit for her. But according to CNN's sources, it is not one she expected to be offered.
Even Sullivan, no Hillary lover (to put it mildly), thinks this is a good call, calling it "pure Obama." ("Pure Obama," according to him, means "both public spirited and yet coldly calculating at the same timel."). As for Hillary, Sullivan praises her with faint damns. Still, there is praise mixed in with the condemnation in this one. As is often the case, he's right, though for wrong reasons.
But you can draw your own conclusions.
For my part, I think making her secretary of state is an inspired idea.
Obama has to offer something to Clinton. She's his main threat now and rightly regards part of his victory her doing....
It is a senior enough position not to be fobbed off; it really does take advantage of the Clinton name abroad; it could even put Bill to good use and keep him out of mischief; and Obama has kept telling us that his cabinet model is "Team Of Rivals."...
Unlike the vice-presidency, a secretary of state has real constitutionally-designated things to do. From Clinton's point of view, it would be a natural position from which to run to succeed Obama in 2016 (or to make an inside push to oust him in 2012). The emergence of Max Baucus as the front senator for healthcare seems to me a sign that Obama might have already been signaling this maneuver. If Clinton isn't the lead player on healthcare, what is she going to do?(Daily Dish)
Why, I don't know---carry on being an extremely high-profile senator and a powerful voice on domestic policy in the legislative branch? To hear Sullivan, you'd think being New York's Senator was nothing more than an insignificant pass-time.
And this---this is bullsh*t.
Left to fester in the Senate, Clinton will plot against the president if he doesn't actively seek her support and engagement and "spread the political wealth" of his mandate. (Daily Dish)
To Sullivan, Hillary is a palace plotter in the mode of the Borgias right to the end. Absurd.
She's got many things she wants to accomplish. In the Senate, she remains independent and creates her own agenda. In the cabinet, she'd serve at the pleasure of Obama.
Would she want this? Never mind what Obama wants---is there any reason to think that she wants to be on the cabinet?
Kevin Drum is skeptical.
[T]here's no reason to think Hillary Clinton would want to be Secretary of State even if Obama offered her the job. The whole thing is crazy.
Ambinder, like me, wonders whether the position would be a long-term good move for Hillary.
The CW in Washington is that Obama wants Clinton in his cabinet more than Clinton wants to be in the cabinet, the theory being that the moment she steps into the administration, she loses her power base, she loses her Senate seat forever, and she loses her voice on domestic policy. She concedes her political identity.
Chris Cillizza weighs up the pros and cons from Obama's standpoint.
More as more develops....See Memeorandum for other views.
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There's now reports (via HuffPo) that he flat-out offered her Secretary of State.
I'll stick by what I said before. From Obama's perspective, this is very smart: she'd do a fine job, and it sends the right messages as he's putting the cabinet together. But I could easily see Hillary preferring to be a force in the Senate for years to come. (The idea that she wouldn't end up heavily involved in health care legislation if she were in the Senate is laughable. She would be in the thick of it.)
Posted by: Adam | November 14, 2008 at 07:31 PM
I don't get the "she loses her senate seat forever" thing--she's pretty popular here in New York. Her seat would go to a Dem, and if she wanted to return to the Senate at the end of her term, well, that could be arranged.
Posted by: Molly Ivors | November 15, 2008 at 07:51 AM