[Politics/Religion] US SecState: Clinton Qualified?

[Clive]

Talking to my wife when the news broke that Obama was sizing up Hillary Clinton for US Secretary of State.  I didn't get it.  AFAIK, she does NOT have substantial foreign policy experience.  She sits on no Senate foreign policy committees.  Yeah, I grant that she's probably met some people in the 1993-2001 timeframe, but certainly not in a "state" kind of idiom.  I'm just not seeing the experience that would make her a prominent/leading candidate for the position.

Aren't there more qualified people for this post?  It IS one of the more important cabinet positions, IMO -- not one to be spent on political favors.

[stroh]

Agreed.


Are they just generating some pub. for some misdirection, leaving less controversy for the ultimate goal of Supreme Court appointment?

[gleek]

Some people had the crazy idea that she was qualified to be POTUS.

[spacey]

I'd rather see Bill get it. In my estimation, Hillary is abundantly qualified to be the Junior Senator from New York.

[Clive]

Some people had the crazy idea that she was qualified to be POTUS.

I'd note that the majority of people didn't, and that the scope of skills and abilities required of Secretary of State is significantly narrower than that for a POTUS.

I didn't ponder if she was qualified for the job; I wondered whether she was the most qualified person for the job.

Other than for political reasons, I can't see why she'd top anyone's list.  Is Team Obama trying to pull her out of the Senate for some reason?

[MFAWG]

Arguably, the MOST qualified guy is the current VEEP elect, which suggests that he's actually going to be pretty hands on in this area.

I think the whole things pretty much a smoke screen, anyway. It gives The Right Wing Noise Machine something to  get in a big dither over, which is entertaining but not very productive.

[spacey]

Hell, if they want to really upset the wingnuts they ought to be talking about appointing her SecHHS. I wonder how much of the talk is related to the dumbing down of the White House by the current administration ("hell if Condi Rice can be SecState, anyone can").

It seems a lot of the current names being bandied about for cabinet appointments are sitting senators (okay, well 3 that I can think of right off hand), but given that the President elect and the VEEP elect are already vacating their seats in the Senate, what is the wisdom in further disrupting that chamber? And if it truly is political payback, what is the relative benefit Hillary gets from such an appointment? Politically speaking, does it do her more good than another term in the Senate?

[Clive]

Arguably, the MOST qualified guy is the current VEEP elect, which suggests that he's actually going to be pretty hands on in this area.

My thought was to name Biden as SecState, then appoint a replacement VP.  The new VP needn't be old-n-grey, as there's no further need to assuage voter concerns re: Obama's inexperience.  Size up what you want your VP to do, then pick a person who'll do it.

[Clive]

And if it truly is political payback, what is the relative benefit Hillary gets from such an appointment? Politically speaking, does it do her more good than another term in the Senate?

My expectation all along was that she wanted to be asked to be the VP nominee, but that she'd decline it.  If Obama does well, she's not going to have much luck trying to unseat him in 2012.  If he does poorly, that mud would splash on her skirts as his VP.

If she truly wants to run for president again in 2012, I don't think SecState is a good place to work between now and then.  I just can't accept that she's positioning herself for 2016.  (She just turned 61 a couple weeks ago.)

[Fuzzy]

One real sticking point is the vetting of Bill. From what I've seen/read there may be real conflict of interest issues with some of his international donors that haven't been made public.

[Blader]

The political reality is that after she lost the nomination, she disarmed, played good soldier, and delivered her Ellen Jameson's for Obama.  And may very well have also delivered him Florida.

She deserves to be comp'd.  

This is the nature of these things.

How is she not qualified?  The bar is not exactly that high, what with Condi and Collin in the position the last 8 years.

Besides, if I was the decider, I'd want nothing more than to surround myself with people who wouldn't think twice about keeping it real.