Hillary At State - I Get It!

I still think it made little sense for Hillary to exchange her Senator for Life role for a walk-on spot at State but I'll tell you why Obama offered it to her - soon enough he will be pulling the rug out from under the "anti-war" Dems by making clear the already obvious, namely, all his talk and posturing about deadlines and forced troop withdrawals from Iraq is no longer operative.  And when he provides this clarification, Hillary at State will be obliged to defend it; Hillary the Senator might have been in a position to cluck-cluck and rally some Dems against him.

Now, Hillary's view on troop withdrawals was probably even phonier and more politically calculated than Obama's so it is possible that she would have been a repsonsible voice of reason even in the Senate.  And reason would have said that the situation in Iraq has improved to the point that Dems, given their own uneven history on national security, can't be saddled as the party that snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in Iraq, even if it is under the pretense of committing to victory in Afghanistan.

Reason may also note that withdrawing US troops does not "end" the war in Iraq, it simply ends (or scales back) US involvement in the war.  Or should the world applaud the absence of US troops from Darfur and declare it pacified?

Well.  Hillary at State makes the suspension of deadlines less politically problematic.  My advice to anti-war lefties mirrors that to uneasy righties: Obama is your President - suck it up.

Comments

[Eric Ivers]

Hillary is a *junior* Senator from New York. While she has a huge profile, she has little seniority, and even less actual power there. At State, she is, what, 3 lives away from being President?

[bad]

I like this from your link TM:

Others are troubled by an announcement on Friday night that Mr Obama will retain the White House political office, an institution recently associated with George Bush's adviser Karl Rove, who has been blamed for running government as a permanent and highly partisan election campaign.

During the campaign, Mr Obama pledged to end "politics as usual" and the "perpetual campaign".

But a spokesman for the Transition team said: "An Obama White House will be focused on meeting the next challenge, not winning the next election."

Translation: We're going to do the same stuff but with gooder motives.

[JM Hanes]

Suckin' it up, boss!

[JM Hanes]

bad:

Democrats hit the mother lode with motive based political theory. Lions could be lying down with lambs, but if the peacemaker's intentions are impure, his achievements simply don't count. Dems' superior mind reading skilz facilitated the convenient discovery that Republican motives are, by definition, always bad.

[bgates]

During the campaign, Mr Obama pledged to end "politics as usual" and the "perpetual campaign".
At the rate he's going, he might be able to break literally every promise he made during the campaign before he's sworn in. Let's see how many I can list without Googling:
-public financing
-withdrawal from NAFTA
-supporting Wright
-putting new people in power
-telecom immunity
-debate anywhere, any time

and this Iraq business makes seven. That's low. I know Campaign Spot has used his "expiration date" line more than that. What am I missing?

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

Barack to the Daily Kosacks: Drop Dead.

[JM Hanes]

Well, there was the FISA bill brouhaha.

Does it count if he's flipped back to an earlier position after changing it?

[kim]

Big laugh on the supers, who didn't want more of the Clintons.
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[Thomas Collins]

TM's reason seems logical. But I wonder whether Zero would have done this unless he had something bigger in mind than avoiding Hilary kibbutzing from the Senate. My speculation is that Zero actually plans to make a bold proposal on the Israel/Palestinian front, and needs a high profile figure at State to sell it. I'll bet Hilary and Zero have discussed this issue and that Hilary has indicated that she is on board with whatever proposal Zero is going to make.

[kim]

I still say it blows up. This appointment just doesn't make sense.
=======================================

[rhymin' simon]

You are forgetting she is the senator from NY . New york has significant Jewish population and Schumer and her successor would be toast in 2010. The New York jews will not be fooled.

[kim]

At what percent did those perspicacious ones vote for the fool Obama?
==============================

[Thomas Collins]

Before she ran for Senator, rhymin' simon, wasn't she making nice to Yasser's wife? If she has decided she wants to be "Present at the Creation" of a bold initiative (which if successful would put her in Acheson's league among SOSes), she may decide to let Chuckie fend for himself.

[rhymin' simon]

TC they all have baggage, we may come to see a Spitzer done on any or all of them if they do something really foolish.

[Thomas Collins]

You may be right, rhymin' simon. If nothing happens on that front, I'll just have to wipe the egg off my face. I do agree with you about the baggage of our new leadership. It would fill a couple of cargo planes.

[glasater]

78%--unbelievable......

[rhymin' simon]

With Obama taking on the Clintonistas to his ataff he is giving new meaning to his comment to Joe The Plumber of Spreading the Wealth. He is putting Clinton at SOS so they both can rob the country blind. Or the Clintons are making the invitations to foreign leaders to the Lincoln Bedroom.

[kim]

All the horrors the left and the press projected onto Bush come from their own twisted souls and are about to be inflicted on a conflicted nation. The reaction may well be awesome. The Supreme Court may end up very influential over the near term. Let us hope.
==================================

[Donald]

"New York jews won't be fooled". HMM. The is it a willful self hatred, or an overwhelming desire to destroy this country? Just wondering, just passing through.

[Donald]

Should have been..."well then"

[kim]

Say hi to greater Atlanta for me.
====================

[Bruce]

Two words: Vince Foster.

If Obama, Biden, Byrd and Pelosi plan to be somewhere at the same time (like on a plane) they should cancel the trip.

Secretary of State becomes President if those 4 die.

And it will happen.

Tragic plane crash. Food poisoning. Deranged gunman.

Something like that.

[clarice]

Another Osama Drop Dead,Kos, message:(via instapundit):
"Barack Obama is leaning towards appointing former deputy national security adviser Jim Steinberg as his Deputy Secretary of State, a well-connected Democratic source tells the Huffington Post.

The potential appointment of Steinberg -- an Obama adviser during the campaign, respected voice on international affairs, and Clinton-era national security official -- is significant for a variety of reasons, none more so than what it could mean for the department as a whole."

Drop Dead Dopes

[Dennis D]

Hillary is perhaps the most corrupt person to ever inhabit the White House. She skated on thin ice during a number of escapades including perjury . She cannot get away with it forver and we have a better chance of catching her on the National Stage rather than New York State..

[Captain Hate]

My speculation is that Zero actually plans to make a bold proposal on the Israel/Palestinian front

Good luck with going down that path to nowhere; more reason to think of him as Carter 2. Even Clinton admitted he screwed up on this; well, as close as you can get Slick to taking blame for anything, because he mostly stuck Arafish with the rap.

[JM Hanes]

Via Instapundit, there's Good News & Bad News. First the good:

Before Hillary Clinton has been formally offered the job as Secretary of State, a purge of Barack Obama's top foreign policy team has begun.

The advisers who helped trash the former First Lady's foreign policy credentials on the campaign trail are being brutally shunted aside, as the price of her accepting the job of being the public face of America to the world.

She also gets direct access to the Prez without going through the National Security Council, AKA the last bastion of purge survivors. While I deny harbouring any unpatriotic schadenfreude, the entertainment value of potential infighting is considerable. The bad news?

Its turns out that Mrs Clinton's delay in accepting the president elect's offer to be his top foreign policy adviser had much to do with her negotiating the terms of the job and insisting on the right to choose her own state department staff and possibly even some of the plumb Ambassador postings.

How much do we suppose Joe & Val's glum, latter day, endorsement of Hillary! was worth? How far will the Clintonista resurrection go? Does even the ShadOw know? I'm thinking the water here may be too deep for even David Axelrod to tread. I'm still processing the significance of Obama wanting Hillary on board badly enough to throw his vaunted 300 under the bus, not into the breach.

[Porchlight]

I'm still processing the significance of Obama wanting Hillary on board badly enough to throw his vaunted 300 under the bus, not into the breach.

I still can't figure it out either. What does he gain and/or what has she got on him?

[clarice]

IIRC When the Wilson's fled to New mexico it was they aid to work on Richardson's campaign for President but I never saw them working for him. Then they endorsed Hillary and Richardson stabbed her in the back by endorsing Obama. (Note to the annointed one, be careful how you seat cabinet members). Then Kerry stuck out his patrician nose and money chest for Obama wanting desperately to be named Sec of State only to see it given to Hillary who fought Obama tooth and nail and has a directly opposite foreign policy.

Stranger than strange. And adds more fodder to my supposition that she finessed a courtesy call into a cabinet position.

[clarice]

**it was they Said**
**how you seat Your cabinet members*

[JM Hanes]

Clarice:

Per your link above:

Susan Rice, one of Obama's chief foreign policy aides on the campaign trail, has been thought to being [sic] heading towards an advisory role, a deputy position at the National Security Council, or the post of ambassador to the United Nations.

Oh, pleeeze make her U.N. Ambassador! If her utter cluelessness when it comes to dynamics in Africa extends to the world at large, assigning her the lead role in trying to implement Obama's internationalist agenda seems like hope & change I can live with.

[clarice]

Claudia Rossett can tell us all about Susan's progress there..HEH--Is that a sentence or an appointment? Would any sentient person commit suicide rather than take that posting?

[MayBee]

Perhaps Obama got his first real intelligence briefing and realized he had been surrounding himself with people who don't know what they're talking about.

Imagine if you'd just been read a list of the threats to our security, then walked back to your office to see Susan Rice and Samantha Power sitting there waiting for you.

[MayBee]

Hillary gives him the perfect excuse to drop the people he wanted to drop anyway. Kind of like when my kids tell their friends I won't let them do something as a way to get out of doing it.

[Captain Hate]

Maybee, I have a feeling a default position on how to figure out what's going on with the Obammy administration is think what petulant children would do.

[Porchlight]

Hope so, MayBee. Or maybe he'll have an official cabinet and a shadow cabinet, and Rice and Power will be in the latter. Won't go well if Hillary is the person he's trying to work around, however.

[JM Hanes]

"And adds more fodder to my supposition that she finessed a courtesy call into a cabinet position."

I'm not seeing it. If Hillary is the one trying to wrangle the job, why would it be Obama ceding perks and purging his own people? How could she really embarrass into a corner, when he could so easily (and credibly!) say that her unprecedented demands stalled out the appointment (confirmed with strategic leaks orchestrated by his very capable Chief of Staff)? It could conceivably still end that way, of course.

Hillary may really want the slot at State, but if this is her move, she would either have to have surrogates persuading Obama that he desperately needs her there or have some sort of trump card in hand. If it's an Obama move, there are any number of particular reasons he might be courting her (or by extension Bill and/or his benefactors!), whether poltical or diplomatic.

What am I missing here?

[clarice]

Who's telling us these people are going? The same people who told us he offered her the job and built up expectations? Just saying.
We are watching a shaodw puppet play.

[kim]

It just doesn't make sense. Why would either of them want her to be SoS? Why would any of the three(including Bill) want it?
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[E. Nigma]

HRC is out of her depth as SoS. Again, she has no executive experience, and she will try to manage the swamp at Foggy Bottom. Good luck with that. I would guess that Obama will have at least TWO lines of foreign policy; one through State and another through the NSC. There may also (very likely) be a third he runs right out of the executive office.
The "new plan" for "peace in our time" in the Muddled East will be to force Israel to put its nuclear arsenal forward as a bargaining chip to persuade the Iranians to be nice and don't try to go nuclear on us. Please???

[JM Hanes]

MayBee:

"Imagine if you'd just been read a list of the threats to our security, then walked back to your office to see Susan Rice and Samantha Power sitting there waiting for you."

LOL! We've got yer nightmare right here! I would not be surprised to discover that, per usual, you are spot on. I hope all the folks (past, present & future) in and under the Obama bus are scribbling madly away in journals one and all. When Obama publishes the next installment of his autobiography fact challenged memoirs, perhaps there will (finally!) be a cornucopia of counternarratives for the history books.

[bgates]

How's this for a theory:
Obama expects the next two years to be pretty terrible on the foreign policy front. He wants expendable people in the important offices, so he can sacrifice them and put in his real dream team when things go south. (He doesn't think it's possible for the press to turn on him, and he's right.)
He needs a foil on the right to scapegoat. The Republicans, bless their hearts, aren't a credible obstacle. Reid/Pelosi aren't far enough to his right. The SC won't be either. Hillary's the designated conservative fall guy.
Meanwhile, whatever the Clintonites think of Obama's motives, they can't turn down executive branch positions. That's like asking Gollum to give up the ring.

[clarice]

SoS is more powerful and interesting that junior Senator--that's why she want it.

She can be trouble for him in the Senate, that's why he wants her out of there.

The dance is for each side to protect their future interests--hers in not being marginalized while in his cabinet. His in not giving away more than he most to shut her up.

[clarice]

**SoS is more powerful and interesting thaN junior Senator--that's why she wantS it.**

(I apologize for all these typos.)

[clarice]

bgates has a point--He promised to pull out of iraq right away and finds he cannot--Blame her.

[centralcal]

I try to imagine our boy king knowing all about the inner workings of the court. I cannot quite convince myself that he has much of a clue. He is totally dependent upon scheming courtiers.

Who is his most trusted adviser, I wonder? Who is it that whispers in his ear - put her there, put him here? Rahm?

[JM Hanes]

kim:

Obama could be trying to cover all his foreign policy/diplomatic bases, and/or co-opt the Clinton base which is still formidable, or just keep the enemy close. There are lots of twofers here. Hillary's sway in the Senate as The Inevitable One is forfeit, so on the plus side for the Clinton & Clinton (& Clinton?), there's player status, limelight, legacy and portfolio building (diplomatic and financial).

Clarice:

It seems to me that there's only been token objection to the leaks so far, but I'll just listen and learn, start prepping for Thanksgiving (though delegating the turkey slaughter to apparently unmentionable others) and see what ultimately transpires. As noted, I don't think we should just assume this is a done deal either. As a passe-temps, do we think Chelsea will make her international debut with Mom at State or back at Dad's Library?

[bad]

What are Hillary's qualifications for Secretary of State?

[JM Hanes]

centralcal:

Pofarmer has been thinking along those same lines, which make a lot of sense. Obama knows virtually no one and has virtually zero history or experience in Washington. Emanuel is practically the only person, outside of Axelrod & Co, that Obama will publicly admit to knowing the Chicago way, and oddly enough, on top of that little piece of shared history inside the loop, Emanuel just happens to be a beltway insider's insider too. Daschle has kept a pretty low profile, but he was there at the birth of O the candidate, so he could conceivably be part of the connective tissue.

It occurs to me to wonder if Reid/Schumer have done any back door lobbying to spring Clinton from the Senate too, although I'm not sure why it occurs to me. Reducing competition for the cameras could be reason enough for Schumer, of course, but I'm trying to remember why I have the impression that he saw her as an impediment or irritant where his own ambitions were concerned.

[clarice]

JMH, It's impossible to tell which leaks are his, hers or no one who knows'....As for Chelsea, I'm still waiting for her to enter medical school and save the downtrodden with Doctors without Borders..wasn't that what we were led to believe when she went off to Stanford?

Maybe I should just take up drinking and re eatch "Rome"..It's less distressing.

[Ken Hahn]

I'll tell you why Hillary is going to accept the SecState position. She has decided that Obama is going to make a mess and will be unelectable in 2012. She will pick a fight with Obama and resign in a huff in time to run for Governor in 2010. positioning herself to challenge Obama for the nomination. She really, really wants to be President. And she wants to humble the man who beat her this time even more.