Thursday, November 13, 2008

Hillary considered for Secretary of State?

I found this Yahoo News story through Americablog, and I'm not sure what to make of it. From Yahoo News:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sen. Hillary Clinton, who lost to Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential primary, is being considered to serve as secretary of state in the Obama administration, NBC News reported on Thursday.

The report cited two unnamed advisers to President-elect Obama. The report said Clinton's office would only say that any decisions on the appointment would be up to the president-elect.

The former first lady, who was in a drawn-out battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, is in her second term as a senator from New York.

Several other names also have been mentioned for the top U.S. diplomatic post including Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee; Sam Nunn, a Democrat and former Senate Armed Services Committee chairman; Sen. Chuck Hagel, an outspoken Republican member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who was U.N. ambassador in former President Bill Clinton's administration and also sought the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

I could see John Kerry, Chuck Hagel, or even Bill Richardson as potential Secretary of State nominees under the Obama administration. But Hillary Clinton? I think she could serve this country with even greater distinction as either Senate Majority Leader, or on the U.S. Supreme Court. Probably the best thing Barack Obama could do is to give her the health care issue, and let her run with it through Congress.

At this point, I think we're seeing a trial balloon coming up through the Obama transition team on just where to place Hillary Clinton in the Obama administration.

Update:I've been looking through the Daily Kos comments on the rumor of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, and there is some interesting speculation of giving Hillary the SOS position, and then Hillary could become the top Democratic presidential contender in 2016 race--after Obama serves his two terms, and VP Joe Biden would be considered too old to run in 2016. Given that former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has her eyes set for the White House, either a run in 2012 or 2016, could we end up seeing a all-female presidential race in 2016 by both political parties?

Talk about some interesting speculating firsts--a first African-American president, followed by a potential first female president.

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