Hillary for Secretary of State?

[PEZGolf]

Maybe President-elect Obama will announce on Thursday that he is nominating Hillary for Secretary of State. That would be appropriate----announce that you are nominating A TURKEY on the day that some call TURKEY DAY.

[EquipmentJunkie]

You do realize that the conversation here is one-sided and to most people your coming off as an immature ramble whether they agree with you or not?

[PEZGolf]

You do realize that the conversation here is one-sided and to most people your coming off as an immature ramble whether they agree with you or not?

That does happen---sometimes. I really did think that people would have some kind of opinion as to whether Hillary should be Secretary of State, and if Obama does formally offer the position to her, then what does that tell us about his decision-making process and judegement?

[EquipmentJunkie]

That does happen---sometimes. I really did think that people would have some kind of opinion as to whether Hillary should be Secretary of State, and if Obama does formally offer the position to her, then what does that tell us about his decision-making process and judegement?

As a registered Republican I can easily admit that there was absolutely no chance we had at winning this year, and I'll admit I crossed party lines this year as well (mostly because of the GOP ticket not because I liked Obama but that is another story I don't care to discuss). Point is ANY Democrat would have likely won this, I'm confident Hillary would have beaten Mccain too had she overcome Obama in the primaries. So as far as Obamas judgement, most of the American people aren't going to question it based on this decision because most of them believe she is qualified enough to be President and most think she should have been Vice-President, they aren't going to bat an eye on a SoS position. If any pundits question Obamas decision making because of a Hillary cabinet choice they will loose credibility whether they deserve to or not. I'm not saying it is right, it's just the mood this country is in at the time. I'm no Hillary fan but if this cabinet choice is the best the GOP has in terms of "calling out" Obama they are in far worse trouble than I thought. At this time he is only the President-elect, no the president, he is for the next two months powerless, lets judge him when he's in power. Fact is he has not chosen Hillary yet, lets slam in on what he does if it deserves, not what he might do. This is immature, and leads no credence to any agenda you may have.

[PEZGolf]

As a registered Republican I can easily admit that there was absolutely no chance we had at winning this year, and I'll admit I crossed party lines this year as well (mostly because of the GOP ticket not because I liked Obama but that is another story I don't care to discuss). Point is ANY Democrat would have likely won this, I'm confident Hillary would have beaten Mccain too had she overcome Obama in the primaries. So as far as Obamas judgement, most of the American people aren't going to question it based on this decision because most of them believe she is qualified enough to be President and most think she should have been Vice-President, they aren't going to bat an eye on a SoS position. If any pundits question Obamas decision making because of a Hillary cabinet choice they will loose credibility whether they deserve to or not. I'm not saying it is right, it's just the mood this country is in at the time. I'm no Hillary fan but if this cabinet choice is the best the GOP has in terms of "calling out" Obama they are in far worse trouble than I thought. At this time he is only the President-elect, no the president, he is for the next two months powerless, lets judge him when he's in power. Fact is he has not chosen Hillary yet, lets slam in on what he does if it deserves, not what he might do. This is immature, and leads no credence to any agenda you may have.

I respect your response, and it has a great deal of merit in terms of waiting for results after January 20th, and the inauguration. Here are two last comments on this topic, until then: 1. Although no formal announcement of the offer to Hillary and her acceptance has been made, it is clear that this may happen soon. Public comment in the meantime is worthwhile, even though it will have NO effect on her selection or approval by the Senate. There are a number of reasons to conclude that Hillary is NOT the best choice for such an important position, and I have named a few, but will not belabor the point. 2. One of the most important tasks of an elected officials and one that can have a HUGE effect on the successes or FAILURES of an Administration are the selection of personnel for important posts. The names of Michael Brown at FEMA, Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense, Alberto Gonzalez as Attorney General, Paul Bremer as the Administrator of Iraq, etc. are actions that have made the Bush-Cheney Administration one of the worst and most unpopular ones in the history of this country (and mind you, I am a political independent who voted for them in 2000-----and I should not admit to that). Based on his record, and qualifications, the selection of Timothy Geithner as Secretary of the Treasury is an excellent one, and the last two days of the gains in the stock markets indicate that investors agreee with that assessment. God knows that we need SOMEONE who can "get the job done" to take the place of the overwhelmed Henry Paulson!! So the "naming of names" for the new Administration is important, the public needs to react, and the hopes for the next four years can be raised or lowered depending on whom is selected and nominated.

[Chilli Dipper]

Time will tell whether or not Barack Obama is making a good choice by choosing Hillary Clinton as his presumptive Secretary of State. I don't think that either of them would agree with this decision if it wasn't what both wanted: there are plenty of other people jockeying for the post, and Hillary has plenty of other options on the table to advance her own political career. The idea that Hillary is going to be insubordinate to the president for the sake of her own ambitions isn't much of a concern; she already did what a lot of people thought she wasn't capable of by being a very active campaigner for Obama in the buildup to the general election.

The bigger concern, one that reaches much further than Hillary, is whether or not Obama can find a way to keep all of these big names that he has assembled feeling out of the loop in this administration. There are a lot of big names and big personalities surrounding the President-elect, and there friction if some of them aren't satisfied with the role they are playing. We saw this with George W. Bush. His original cabinet was full of high-profile moderate Republicans (Powell, O'Neill, Thompson, Ridge, Whitman), but it soon became clear that the major decision-making in the White House was confined to an inner circle of Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld, and a few close advisors. By the end of Bush's first term, all of those people left, bringing us to the nondescript crew of yes men who are currently roaming the halls of the West Wing. One has to be impressed with the caliber of officials he has assembled in his staff already, only three weeks after the election; his biggest issue will be keeping all of these folks onboard.

[PEZGolf]

Time will tell whether or not Barack Obama is making a good choice by choosing Hillary Clinton as his presumptive Secretary of State. I don't think that either of them would agree with this decision if it wasn't what both wanted: there are plenty of other people jockeying for the post, and Hillary has plenty of other options on the table to advance her own political career. The idea that Hillary is going to be insubordinate to the president for the sake of her own ambitions isn't much of a concern; she already did what a lot of people thought she wasn't capable of by being a very active campaigner for Obama in the buildup to the general election.

GOOD POST: The selection of the initial cabinet is always a critical decision, and this year is more so than ever because of the state of our economy. From what I have read, Tim Geithner is going to be an excellent Secretary. For example, the "Wall Street Journal" states that Larry Summers can be a very strong-minded decision maker, and Geithner is one of the few people who could "push back" against his ideas and Summers would listen to him. In my opinion, Secretary Henry Paulson has been "over his head" and swamped by events (and this is a unique and dangerous period in our economic history), and Geithner should do a better job.

[PEZGolf]

Here are my final comments on this topic: Hillary is a bad choice, and Obama and the U.S. will learn to regret it. The appointments of Bob Gates as Secretary of Defense and Marine General Jim Jones as National Security Advisor at least balance out the National Security appointments, but Hillary will cause more problems than you can imagine. She is the real barracuda, not Sarah Palin.

[Blades4me]

Boy, I hope this story is false or if Hillary is really offered the position of Secretary of State by our new Presiden-elect, she TURNS IT DOWN!! If nominated, she will be GRILLED by the Republicans in the Senate, as she should be. There are many other possible candidates---Senator Chuck Hagel, Colin Powell (although he says that he is not interested), and others. I do not like Hillary, even though she is OUR Senator in New York State. When she tried to put together a government sponsored health care system during her husband's Presidency, she failed miserably. That was a test of management skills on a large issue affecting ALL Americans!

With all due respect sir, I disagree. I think she will make a great Sec. of State b/c she is a pit bull with lip stick, she is a hands on manager and she is very familar with the operation and most of the players. Colin Powell would also be great, but as I understand it he is more interested in education and will probably be offered something in education.

As far as the health care stuff, at least she had the balls to address it. Every President since Regan has put health care on the back burner or done a quick fix like putting the mentally ill out on the streets where they were just rerouted into and out of and into jails around the country. None of them wanted to deal with it head on b/c they knew nobody would like the fix, which is one of the reasons why we are where we are now. Anyway just my opinion