Senator Hillary Clinton may have earned herself a seat as Secretary of State by making peace with President elect Barack Obama. The two had been rivals throughout the primary race and now it appears that Clinton may have a shot at being appointed. I am not sure if this is the best move for president elect Barack Obama. There are many pros and cons to having Senator Hillary Clinton in office with him. With Hillary comes Bill and i am not sure if that is going to help Obama. We have seen Bill Clinton play a major role in senator Hillary Clinton's campaigns and there is no doubt that he will try to do the same if she is appointed as secretary of state. President Elect Obama will be sharing his presidency with his former rival and potentially lose out on some foreign policy ideas he has come up on his own. The two of them had many different viewpoints during the primaries. The two may be coming up with numerous ooposing view points and it will be much harder for president elect Barack Obama to do the things he had been campaigning for. Obama continues to look for staff that will better the morale of the government and hopefully make significant changes on the economy. Hopefully he will make the right decisions when he appoints his staff. Is appointing Senator Hillary Clinton going to work in Barack Obama's favor?
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/the-early-word-clintons-in-foggy-bottom/
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4 comments:
I think that if Clinton became Secretary of State it would be a good decision overall for Obama. Clinton's appointment would unite the exiled members of the democratic party and create a more unified democratic party. With this unified party and control of the house and senate, there would be almost no limits to what the democrats could accomplish. Futhermore, though some see it as a roadblock, Bill Clinton would be readily available for advice and even though he wasn't the best president I am sure he could give Obama good advice on mistakes to avoid and leadership decisions. Also Obama said he wanted to surround himself with people who disagree with him; after a long campaign against Clinton I am sure we can all see many differences. With her long experience in government and deep support of many followers Obama will gain a great asset in Hillary Clinton. But in the end Obama is still the president and Clinton will be an advisor to him so their is only so much of an impact she can make.
I don't see anything wrong with appointing Hillary Clinton as the Secretary of State. Like Tom said, she is only an advisor. Clinton will definitely have some influence over Obama, but ultimately Obama will have final word. However, having Bill Clinton around is a double-edged sword. On one hand, he will be able to provide Obama with a lot of great advise. On the other hand, the public might give Obama less credit than he deserves, attributing some ideas to Bill Clinton. Whatever decision Obama ends up making, I am sure he will have considered all aspects of appointing Hillary Clinton as the Secretary of State.
My feeling is that Clinton would probably make a great Secretary of State, but I also question putting another Clinton in the White House. This Bush/Clinton/Bush cycle needs to be broken. My feeling is what about Chris Dodd, or even Bill Richardson. I think that the Bill Clinton factor cannot be underestimated. Former President Clinton will always have influence, and therefore the Clintons can use their power somewhere else. I think Hillary would do a great job, much better than John Kerry, but I also think that maybe some new minds should go to the White House.
FOLLOW UP
I guess i can understand what you guys are saying. Having HIllary in office will not be a huge influence over Obama's decisions. I also see how having a rival in office will be good for the government because it would give opposing viewpoints. It is always a good idea to have someone there to disagree on a subject matter or two. She has had a lot of experience in office and could give good advice. I still do not believe having Bill Clinton there as well would be a good choice. They should be looking for someone new to advise and Bill Clinton is just not that favorable to the public.
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