Posted on 11/22/2008 4:13:18 PM PST by DBCJR
The thaw in the resentful relationship between the most powerful woman in the Democratic Party and her younger male rival began at the party’s convention this summer,
... Mrs. Clinton’s political skills would serve her well in the job ...
Clinton was herself diligent in advertising how hard she was working for the man who defeated her...
But Mr. Obama began calling Mrs. Clinton after some of the events — he dialed directly from his cellphone to hers one day in Michigan and another day in Florida — to check in and thank her for helping. By then, their intense primary fights over policy, which both sides now insist was more about heat than substance, had long receded.
... Substantively, the two were at odds over the Iraq war — Mrs. Clinton voted to authorize it and Mr. Obama said he would have opposed it had he been in the Senate then — and to a lesser extent over negotiations with Iran. But although Mrs. Clinton criticized Mr. Obama for being willing to sit down and talk to dictators, he has said he would have a lower-level envoy do preparatory work for a meeting with Iran’s leaders first. Mrs. Clinton has said she favors robust diplomacy with Iran and lower-level contacts as well....Since the election, Mrs. Clinton has talked to Mr. Obama only a handful of times... But Mrs. Clinton has talked several times to Michelle Obama about raising a family in the White House and private schools in Washington. On Friday, Mrs. Obama said the two Obama girls, Malia and Sasha, would attend the Sidwell Friends School, just as Chelsea Clinton did.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
REALPOLITIK: Trevor Royle
BACK IN 1993 when Bill Clinton was president-elect, he and Hillary stopped to buy petrol on their journey back to Washington. There's nothing unusual about that, but while the car was being filled up Hillary remarked that years ago the man operating the pump had taken her to the high school prom. Bill's reaction was to say, hey that's amazing, you could have been the wife of a garage owner. No, responded Hillary icily, that guy could have been married to the president of the US.
All right, it's a corny story, but like all political anecdotes it contains a smidgen of truth and no doubt it will do the rounds again this week when Hillary Rodham Clinton accepts Barack Obama's invitation to become secretary of state. All of a sudden the front-runners - John Kerry, Chuck Hagel and Bill Richardson - have been exposed as tortoises as Hillary breaks through on the outside track.
If the leaks are true we can expect an announcement after this Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday - provided, of course, that her husband survives awkward disclosure issues concerning his international charitable work.
advertisement Obama's supporters say that she's getting her grippers on the coveted post because of his desire to unite the Democrats in the wake of the bruising campaign to select a presidential candidate. The choice will also reinforce the president-elect's reputation as a consolidator who is prepared to reach out and invite talent into his big tent.
However, the party's greybeards say that it's going to be one heck of a risk, that Hillary will be a divisive element and that her husband will be pulling all the strings.
There's a lot to be said for both arguments. While it's true that Obama won a crushing victory, it should not be forgotten that his earlier win over Hillary Clinton was a close-run thing and that she collected 18 million votes. It also nearly split the party and left a legacy of suspicion and recrimination which is still barely beneath the surface. By taking her on as secretary of state Obama is demonstrating that he entertains no hard feelings - and, more importantly, that he's savvy enough to bring a big-hitting rival into his team.
Seen in that light the appointment will only attract more kudos - not only will it reinforce his generosity of spirit, but it will connect him to an experienced politician who can do much to put the sparkle back into the country's tarnished international reputation.
Well, that's the good news; unfortunately the flipside isn't so encouraging. When Hillary Clinton arrives at the State Department she'll be bringing with her an unnecessary amount of baggage. No-one doubts her political skills - she's tough, feisty and very much her own person - but what does she actually know about world diplomacy?
During her campaign her assertions were at best woolly and at worst wrong-headed. Obama's team expended a good deal of effort demolishing her foreign policy ideas during the summer, and on just about every count they found that she was opposed to everything their candidate was preaching.
Remember, too, that this is a senator who voted for the US invasion of Iraq - and if that isn't enough of a black mark, don't forget her curious memory lapses about coming under fire while visiting US forces in the Balkans.
So, she's already scoring badly even before her personality and background are taken into account. As was widely observed when Obama toyed with the idea of making Hillary Clinton his running mate, he would be getting two for the price of one - and it wouldn't be a bargain. That's still the issue: wherever Hillary goes, Bill follows, and with him he brings his multi-million-dollar international fundraising activities, which are now rightly under scrutiny.
Worse, during the election run-in he made it perfectly clear that he views his wife as a return ticket to the corridors of power. Even if he disobeys every instinct by keeping himself to himself, it's not straying beyond the bounds of possibility to suggest that the Clintons will view the State Department as a springboard for a renewed challenge in 2012.
Does Obama need that? No, he most certainly does not. Leaving aside the question of where a Clinton appointment will place vice-president Joe Biden, who was appointed for his foreign policy expertise, the sudden rush to get Hillary on board smacks of weakness, populism and compromise. Moreover, it's the precise opposite of the confident clarion call "No-Drama-Obama" that brought the senator from Illinois to power.
Anyway, given the complexities of the job, good secretaries of state work alongside the president, not against them. With the best will in the world, Hillary Clinton won't play second fiddle - not when a tilt at the job she really wants is still in the offing.
This soap opera is far from over. I think that the biggest threats to Obama’s radical socialist agenda, will come from two sources...the people, without question, and from within the DemoRAT party. Hitlery, if she still has aspirations for 2012, will come on as a moderate and work to block much of Obama’s radical agenda. This works for Hillary, and it works for America.
This impending appointment is the “price” Obama is paying to have muzzled Hillary and the Clintonistas. This appointment was “decided upon” at the end of the Democratic primary.
“...We’ll be lucky if the mushroom clouds are only over Tel Aviv and not NYC.”
And we’ll be ever luckier if Zero and the Hildebeast are in Tel Aviv at the time.
NYC is a blue city.
Zero is the Manchurian candidate...the Clintons and Soros are pulling the strings.
She will be Bush’s Colin Powell, the proverbial “voice of reason” from the wings concerning foreign affairs, trying to appear the more presidential.
With the Hillary selection Obomba is hoping to give his new administration some clASS.
What experience does she have in foreign policy, other than fibbing about being shot at in Bosnia and kissing Mrs. Arafat after the terrorist's wife railed about Israel poisoning "Palestinian" women and children?
All that Obama is going to do is bring all the drama and attention-whoring of the Clintons. Every other nominee was named without any leaks or drama, but her nomination is playing out like a Shakespearean drama.
He's going to learn sooner or later that it's always about the Clintons, first and foremost.
She will play the more experienced “voice of reason”, attempting to appear more presidential, and demeaning POTUS Obama. She will try to position herself to assume the throne in 2012 after an abismal 4 years as the only bright light in his administration.
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