If Barack Obama actually selects Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State it will no doubt be a decision influenced by Abraham Lincoln’s selection of William H. Seward for the same position. I am supportive of Obama’s desire to create a Lincolnesque cabinet. I have no doubt that Clinton can do the job well, although I hope her undersecretary is better organized than her campaign team was. The really big question mark is not Hillary, in my view, but Bill. If I had my druthers, neither of them would have a high profile role in the administration or the party. While I can certainly understand the potential benefits to having them inside the tent, pissing out, I am concerned about the dynamics of a Secretary of State that is married to an ex-president. Let me put it this way…
If Obama picks Clinton, I won’t be upset. But if he comes to regret it, I’ll be quick to say ‘I told you so.’ Having said that, Colin Powell and Condi Rice certainly did not control American foreign policy. You’d have to go back to Kissinger to find a Secretary of State that did control our foreign policy.
