Someone is telling Ewen MacAskill of the The Guardian that Hillary Clinton plans on accepting ‘Barack Obama’s offer’ of Secretary of State. The Clinton critters (and Lieberman critters) sure are busy working the refs. Color me skeptical. It sure seems like the Establishment is doing their best to railroad Obama during the Transition. I’m not saying that Obama won’t tap Clinton for State or that Lieberman won’t keep his gavel. But I can smell the invisible hand here. I know Obama is looking to have an inclusive cabinet and to keep his enemies close. I’m okay with that. But I’ll wait to hear the news from the man himself.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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so unlike Obama’s campaign..all the leaks and the chatter.
what a letdown if this does not pan out? a lot of people will have their agendas in twists…especially the agenda to revive the GOP, Rush et al. CLinton at SoS will be most helpful.
So far I remain unimpressed by what Obama has shown during this transition period. Jim Leach, Albright!
On the list of acceptable Republicans, Jim Leach is in the top three.
Acceptable?
one of the architects of financial deregulation that allowed leveraging 35:1 expanded derivatives trading off the books that brought us, in Paul Volcker’s words, “The Mother of All Financial Crises” Paul Volcker is not known to be frivolous.
Put the foxes in with the chickens.
Corptocracy is what Obama is expanding. He will duplicate Bush’s disaster.
In these times his focus should be signalling his choice for Secretary of the Treasury and fresh faces, new thinking. We worked hard to have him hand it all back to the Clintons…looks like it’s a done deal. And don’t dismiss for a moment the thought that the Clintons won’t usurp. “we did it this way while sucking all the oxygen. We’ll be asking, “Obama, who?”
This is not an environment in which the Lincoln idea –“team of rivals” will play well. It’s plain dumb.
A horror movie that never ends. It’s been 21 months of the great fraud
will you relax?
Did Powell or Rice run our foreign policy?
Rice and Powell did not embrace high drama or come with a long trail of distracting baggage that unifies the opposition – the GOP at all levels. So you thought they were decimated?
Just listen to moderate, MSM and wingnut talk radio. You’d be surprised. The lynch mob has been released so the Obama/Clinton team up should be a disaster…or have we forgotten the 1990s?
the right-wing loves Hillary now, didn’t you get the memo?
have you surfed the christianistas radio– the rock of the base? Against Obama they make the VRWC against Clinton a do over picnic…to die for and go to heaven.
Have you read about the run on guns and ammo since the election and after the seven page questionaire of the Obama transition team to vet candidates became public. Question: Do you or other members in your family own a gun? is taken to reinforce the notion Obama will be confiscating guns once he takes the oath of office…if he takes the oath of office — the Phillip Berg SC case on place of his birth.
Does Rush and Fox now love Hillary..is it a facade? they all love her now because the Obama camp and Hillary promoters are worried the press will scuttle this job offer as per Huffpost. Get HRC on board so they’ll have an additional target. How sweet, what a gift!
And what a turn off! I knew he would disappoint on some issues, yeah I could live with that. But on what to do about Clintons issues are a major and not reconcilable. The rationale for not giving HRC the VP slot remains intact. If this is not a freak show I’ll regret forever having laid out on Obama’s campaign my time, energy and money.
Add in Lieberman – Obama gave him cover to keep his chairmanship: Disgusted, I can’t be charitable.
Actually, the parallels to Seward are astonishing.
He was a Senator from New York who was widely presumed to be the 1860 nominee of the Republican Party, but who lost out to a surprise, lanky, man from Illinois. Lincoln selected him as Secretary of State despite their rivalry, and he bought Alaska for 2 bucks and acre.
Well, it’s no longer the Obama Campaign, it’s the Oligarchy of the World, let’s get clear about that. Obama’s getting gelded now, and the rats are flooding onto the decks. He asked for it, he got it. He’s a lame duck even before innaguration. The powers-that-be were’t going to let some 2-bit community organizer in the ghettos of Chicago tell them what to do with the US Government. President — Pah!
The wolves are circling the lamb. Sorry folks, that’s the reality of this corrupt oligarchy. Corporate America/Defense Dept Buddies. They are the presidents in the shadows.
Because there’s a general quiet in the Northeast about the impact of DoD spending, excepting maybe in Connecticut, we don’t understand how important that spending is to the rest of the nation; the South, Florida, California. They love their pork, and love the military because of it.
Obama has no chance, progressives have little chance amongst these entrenched wolves. Anyone who though Obama’s victory was anything more than an even deeper plunge into corruption and fascism has fooled themselves. He’s a lesser of two evils choice, a good person no doubt, but much less of a power than the real powers in Washington, Houston, Dallas and New York.
Continue to watch the castration. But really, there are no testes to remove, Obama was never given any by the powers-that-be. He’s just their toy, their front man, just like every president since . . . since Truman? Roosevelt I? McKinley?
This was to be expected, folks. But no one wants to hear the bad news, after all, it’s America Rah Rah Rah It Couldn’t Happen Here!?!
Jeebus, Isis – I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Obama campaigned as “Clinton Part II: Now with fewer sex scandals.” That was his platform. And now he looks set to govern as – Clinton Part II (we’ll just have to hope for the fewer sex scandals at the moment). He’s not being “gelded” – he’s doing exactly what he told us all he was going to do.
Clinton as Sec of State sounds like exactly the type of choice he’d make. According to the Newsweek article he would have had her as a VP selection if the whole “former President hanging around the White House” thing wasn’t a really, really bad idea. It’s not like Obama’s mindset about foreign policy is all that different from Clinton’s either – Obama is not anti-war in principle. He was only against the Iraq War because it was an obviously stupid idea. If his words are to be believed (and so far I haven’t seen evidence to the contrary) he sees war as a last resort, but that just puts him in line with standard American foreign policy. “War as a last resort” means “we go to war if diplomacy doesn’t get them to give us what we want.” (Bush’s extremism was to say “war is our first resort” – the global politics equivalent of “shoot first, loot the bodies, and if you have time, ask some questions”.)
Obama never was a Kucinich. He wasn’t even Carter. He never made any promises to “drain the cesspool of Washington” or “rattle cages” or any of that. His promises of change were along the lines of “we need competent people to run our Empire” not “we need to end our Imperial ambitions”. For those of us opposed to American expansionism and hegemony, Obama was always the lesser of two evils choice. (But, I hasten to add, an important distinction. Because at least Obama wants to put us back on something resembling a global multilateral approach, which at least requires some kind of buy in from the other hegemonic powers before you start mucking with other people’s countries. Not a perfect solution, but so much better than the unilateral approach of Bush/McCain that it’s tough to really grasp how much better it really is.)
This is totally unsurprising, btw, not because there are oligarchs who control the levers of power (though that does occur to one degree or another in any democracy), but because the people of the USA LIKE THEIR EMPIRE JUST THE WAY IT IS THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Those of us who would like to get the fuck out of everyone else’s business might not like to believe it, but our fellow Americans LOVE the benefits of having our fingers in the business of every country in the world. The cheap imports – especially oil. The false sense of security that comes from being the “most powerful nation on the planet” (which is why the American psyche went crazy on 9/11). All of it.
If you ask them point blank whether we should be meddling in other countries or not they tend to say no. But if you ask them if they enjoy the benefits of being the hegemonic power that we are they tend to say yes. So there’s the tightrope that any principled politician who wants to end the hegemony has to walk – how do you pull us back without losing the benefits that the voters like? The answer is that you don’t – which is a good chunk of the reason that Kucinich is treated like an idiot instead of a real candidate. It’s not just that the press doesn’t take him seriously – he could get past that. It’s that his message runs counter to what most people in this country want.
Observations: Obama campaigned as “Clinton Part II…
He’s not being “gelded” – he’s doing exactly what he told us all he was going to do.
I disagree — go back and review his attacks against Clinton as status quo, not change.
His promises of change were along the lines of “we need competent people to run our Empire” not “we need to end our Imperial ambitions”.
So is that why he’s doing the revolving door thingy–same old, same old Clinton people. It’s the Clinton Third Term?
If we follow this logic, Ralph Nader for Secretary of Defense.
And no denials yet.
It’s all part of the deal.
Bet on it.
Nose out of joint because Obama is not a Clintonphobe?
You and almost the whole rest of the leftiness blogworld.
Tough shit.
Look on the bright side.
At least no matter how well or how badly things may go, you’ll have an ongoing designated villain(ess).
You oughta be delighted.
Now you have something to complain about.
AG
Actually, AG, I don’t think Clinton would be a bad Sec. of State. I think her husband will be a problem, though, and therefore Im worried that Obama will regret this appointment (if he makes it).
But that’s his problem. I won’t be mad about it.
This Guardian scoop may come with Clinton ped. Sid Blumenthal. He’s still connected.
A fallback position.
Good work.
Oh.
Bullshit.
The leftiness soap opera continues.
AG
P.S. Stop reading the goddamned newspapers. You couldn’t smell a fix if it showed all up and hot and juicy on your breakfast plate.
Do you really think that Bill’s ongoing hustle is going to get in the way?
Please.
THAT’S ONE MAJOR REASON THAT SHE “WOULDN’T BE A BAD” SECRETARY OF STATE!!! (Nice double maybe there, Booman. You cover your ass like a politician.)
She’s connected 27 ways to Sunday.
Please.
But I’ll wait to hear the news from the man himself.
I agree.
How is Hillary an enemy?
For me, the Clintons’ political capital can be valued in Confederate dollars; your mileage may vary…
Its cool to see so much emotion about a transition. The left will not be fooled again. Its invigorating.
When they finally got full control of the government and then watched as their moronic representatives screwed up one thing after another until the entire party was a national joke.
From Alito and Mukasey to Lieberman the democratic senators have proven themselves to be morally bankrupt criminals.
All that time, effort and money to get Obama elected only to have Schumer, Feinstein, Lieberman, Boxer and Salazar ruin it all. Disgusting and despressing. I wish the fate of Ted Stevens on the whole sorry bunch of them.
Glad you put my senator, Salazar, in your rogues list. He is the quintessential politician in the worst sense of the word. This man will never do what is right, only what supports his career as a politician. it will be interesting to see how Udall turns out. I am not holding my breath.
Those who know aren’t talking. Those who talk don’t know.
Obama had incredible message discipline and few leaks during the campaign. Is he going to govern through leaks now? I doubt it. Running a tight ship eventually sucks the wind out of the media piranhas.
The media circus around Clinton as SoS is very out of character with the “no drama” campaign that Obama ran. I’m not sure why he would suddenly adopt a drama-laden approach to governing after that. Unless of course, the distraction allows him to work on selecting the rest of his cabinet while the media is busy with their shiny toy.
We shall see.
This drama-laden approach is because things are out of the hands of Obama and his campaign now. See my post above.
Somehow, I don’t think Obama is quite that naive. YMMV.
So, either he’s naive or he’s playing the proverbial American people. Which is it?
This whole thing reminds me of when Hillary had the media crowing about her selecting Obama as VP if she won the nomination.
He may pick her, he may not. If anyone is in the position to get punk’d, its the media in their Hillary-Obama fascination, rather than the American people.
I’m betting/hoping that Obama is floating Clinton’s name out there because one way or another she is going to get floated for some role.
SoS is a smart possibility because it flatters her while also being the one position where Bill gives her a real problem. Either it gets talked about enough to reveal the problems with it or she has a problem even accepting it.
Hopefully, she decides the best way to serve the administration is to lead in the Senate.
I will be very surprised if Bill doesn’t become the reason she gets passed over.
We’ll see.