Several reports are now claiming that Clinton as decided to accept the position of Secretary of State in President-elect Obama’s cabinet. Here’s one from Bloomberg News:
Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) — Senator Hillary Clinton is likely to be nominated for secretary of state after the Nov. 27 U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, according to an aide to President-elect Barack Obama.
Clinton told confidants she has decided to accept the post, the New York Times reported on its Web site.
Potential hurdles related to financial disclosures by Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, have been worked out, said the Obama aide, who asked not to be named.
I assume this is an authorized leak. I guess Team of Rivals here we come.
Here’s the NY Times article.
Mrs. Clinton came to her decision after additional discussion with President-elect Barack Obama about the nature of her role and his plans for foreign policy, said one of the confidants, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the situation.
Mr. Obama’s office told reporters on Thursday that the nomination is “on track” but this is the first word from the Clinton camp that she has decided.
“She’s ready,” the confidant said, adding that Mrs. Clinton was reassured after talking again with Mr. Obama because their first meeting in Chicago last week “was so general.” The purpose of the follow-up talk, he noted, was not to extract particular concessions but “just getting comfortable” with the idea of working together.
A second Clinton associate confirmed that her camp believes they have a done deal. Senior Obama advisers said Friday morning that the offer had not been formally accepted and no announcement would be made until after Thanksgiving. But they said they were convinced that the nascent alliance was ready to be sealed.
sounds like this is getting a little more solid. I still think he’ll regret this, but maybe she’ll prove me wrong.
I’m drafting an article about how a similar move really backfired for Kennedy. Not his secretary of state, but similar.
in a New York second, he’ll be in regret over this appointment. Guess he needs HRC to take those 3:00 AM calls.
Remind me again what was the point of the Primaries and the Election? We’ve be scammed.
What a fraud!
It’ll be quite a reunion of the Clintonistas.
This Is Change? 20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama’s White House
How stupid of me to have worked my A$$ off for Obama.
Obama said it near the beginning of the primary season, something to the effect of, “We’re all on the same team, we’re just vying to be the starting quarterback.” Obama is the quarterback, and he’ll be the one to distribute the ball. If a player on the team can’t or won’t execute the play that he calls then the ball will go to someone else next time while the failed teammate finds herself on the bench on the sideline.
She works for him now – that’s significantly different from her being in charge herself.
you are a great dreamer. Obama will be nothing more than a H.N.
A QB? Not likely. He’ll be benched.
First the reunion of Clinton hires and it’ll be Clinton all the time. Bill will sit in on cabinet meetings. And they’ll let us know they’re running the show. In your face.
Watch.
Obama just canceled his presidency.
Stupid as stupid does.
Bill Clinton is not going to sit in cabinet meetings.
Pillows have a habit of tongue chatter.
Bill might as well be in cabinet. It’s a done deal – it’s a two-fer, this couple. Buy one, get the other.
And HRC will need his help. He’ll tagalong.
Just Watch.
Obama, “we did it this way. No No No that’s not how you do that. I can call Gordon Brown.”
BooMan recall that Wapo article you posted — The White House Butler?
The White House just got a new butler. Obama is it.
And please, don’t ask of me to calm down. You have no idea. Obama has demonstrated he ain’t his own man.
Benched by who? He’s in charge – if he doesn’t like what she’s doing then he fires her (asks for her resignation), simple. If she undermines him then he fires her. If she makes a fool of herself then he fires her. He’s in charge, using them to do his bidding, and if they act a fool then he can simply get rid of them and they will take the blame for it.
Hillary wouldn’t have been my choice for dog-catcher, but if Obama believes that he can use her to advance his ends then I’m cool with that. Wouldn’t be me, but I’m not him.
He’s in charge. You really think so with eyes wide shut.
You believe that, then you may want to buy
my bridge in Alaska — to nowhere. It’s for sale.
Over and over this week in discussing the probability that Obama would offer Clinton SoS, the caution is Never hire someone you can’t fire.
Hiring on the Clintons is asking for a disaster. It’ll be a media frenzy. The Clintons have always been and will always be a media frenzy…a disaster waiting to happen. The VRWC folks are partying.
All that baggage and ego. The Clintons have more baggage than cab be found at Heathrow, JFK, O’Hare, La Guardia airports combined.
Will the last real liberal in America please turn out the lights?
Will she be arriving under heavy fire at her various destinations?
Indubitably.
Yes, but will she be a maverick?
I don’t think there’s any way of denying that. He has already betrayed the trust of the people who voted for him.
By no possible stretch of the word can bringing the Clintons back be called “change”.
If this shakes out as described, I agree with you.
would you prefer Lugar or Hagel?
Honestly?
I would, but I’m just saying.
I would perfer Hagel because we’ve already seen he and Obama work well together.
Frankly, I don’t like Hillary one bit. I don’t think she’s qualified and has an asshole for a husband. I feel she does not meet the “change” standard in any way.
But we’ll see what happens. All this could be moot.
I would have preferred Samantha Power.
I agree with everything robertdsc said; I would just add that it’s pretty clear that Hillary has no diplomatic skills whatsoever.
The main way in which this is discouraging is psychological. With the Clintons back, with all their old tricks, there is no sense that we are moving forward. It’s as if we’re in limbo.
As people at Open Left are saying, the only thing we have to be pleased about is that Congress appears to have become significantly more progressive.
Either Lugar or Hagel has a more moderate Senate record on Israel than Hillary Clinton. Hagel has co-sponsored alternative bills to AIPAC-drafted legislation in the past.
Considering that she will be doing Obama’s bidding – and if she fails to do so then she will be relieved of her duties – I don’t really have a problem with this nomination, especially the more I think about it. In a sense, Obama’s pimping the Clintons’ connections and international credibility the same way that Dubya pimped Colin Powell’s name and credibility.
Get that mic…
Our attraction to Obama in the primaries was his early opposition to the Iraq War. We had other reservations, but that was our issue (speaking about family and friends here). If I/we had known he’d play kissy face with hawks like LIeberman, make Rahm chief of staff and give the Clintons (plural) oversight of foreign policy, I/we could have saved myself/ourselves a lot of money and time and energy. I/we would have voted for whoever the Democrats put up and given my/our dollars and time to AFSC, ACLU and environmental organizations.
You should start reading CounterPunch! If you do, next time you won’t be so disappointed. People whose writing gets posted there have few illusions about the Democratic establishment.
Obama made it clear from the very beginning that he was not a real anti-war candidate, and it was also clear that he is as much a servant of corporations as the Clintons. But neither I, nor I think even Alexander Cockburn, were expecting that this would be such a Clintonite administration, or that there would not be even a single progressive appointment to a significant post. It is such a brazen defiance of the will of voters.
I am acquainted with Cockburn (as in have dealt with him) and read him in The Nation. I am aware of Counterpunch but don’t read it.
I’m a senior, so my cynicism is fully developed. I supported Obama as the only candidate who was close to being anti-Iraq War. By the time he was elected, it was clear that he was acting quite hawkish in regard to Afghanistan, Iran, but I never expected what I’ve seen in the last week.
Maybe longer.
Months.
Ever since the following picture was taken during the primaries.
Bet on it.
I can hear the conversation now.
6 months later?
I am SO SURPRISED!!!
You’ve been had. Just like I said.
Two centrists ran a shell game on you.
Two talented pros.
HA ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!
Wake the fuck up.
AG
Heh, AG, will she do a good job? Has she better diplomatic skills than Ms. Rice? Tell me, you seem to have a direct line of contact. Yes, the photograph is embarrassing, Obama playing the flattered little good boy.
I like how she looks in that picture.
She looks like an overwrought aging Broadway actress, if you ask me.
AG, gotta give you your due. Obama was boxed in with the leaks.
He took away the Clintons’ White House Restoration Project. ..so the consolation prize…SoS. This will all end badly as the oxygen is sucked out of Obama’s administration.
It’ll be Clintons all the time. When Hillary travels, Bill Clinton will tagalong. What a joke? Will Bill be sitting in on cabinet meetings too?
Who is the real president? What a fucking joke.
VF. Is there a test taster in the House?
It will end badly for the leftiness blogosphere shmoon if y’all don’t wise up.
She’s not Lady Macbeth, fer chrissake!!!
Obama wasn’t “boxed in” with the leaks. She’s the one that he wanted.
Duh.
Have you no respect for his abilities at all!!!???
Get over it.
Whadda buncha maroons!!!
Some times I wonder why I keep trying.
Wake the fuck up.
This is a big, powerful country. It’s not going down, and it SURE as hell isn’t going very far left. That only happens when the majority of people are scuffling.
Scuffling hard. As in serious as death. We have a long way to go before that happens, short of some sort of cataclysmic attack or set of natural disasters.
Take a deep breath.
The Butch years are over.
Now?
We shall see.
But…short of your being proven totally wrong, of course (Can ya handle it?)…it’s not gonna be so bad.
Watch.
It sure as hell is going to be better than the last 10 years.
Watch.
AG
It looks like SoS is a booby prize anyway.
among the anti-Clinton shmoon.
You are being very foolish, Booman.
Childish, even.
You really are.
A booby prize?
Ms. Clinton turns booby prizes in Presidents.
Look what she did with Bill.
C’mon…relax.
It’s over, and it ain’t all that bad.
Relax.
You are turning a really good Christmas into the ultimate Fitzmas.
Although if you like suffering than I suppose you will continue to be happy.
So it goes.
Snipe on.
I guess someone has to do so.
It’s a lousy gig, though.
Later…
AG
Yeah, we all remember William P. Rogers.
You are essentially rooting against Obama’s success.
I called that as well.
The leftiness blogs live on negativity, by and large. Their rise had to do with the plain fact that an almost entirely negative system was in power here.
But the habit of complaint is hard to break.
Try harder, Booman.
Things have gotten better, and your childish, kneejerk anti-Clinton whining is going to marginalize you within less than a year.
Grow up.
It’s not going to be perfect.
Deal with it.
AG
I don’t even understand your comment.
I just front-paged my thoughts.
You wrote:
Coupled with your ongoing Clinton bashing.
And this sour grapes shit:
Plus
As if Gen. James Jones is some kind of Kissinger-like backstage hustler.
You dare to write:
After months and months of Hillary bashing?
Get real.
Get honest, at least.
You are treading dangerously close to Kos territory.
And it sucks.
AG
What? Geez, sometimes I don’t think you even read Booman’s stuff.
AG,
Thankfully, I’ve other places to reside.
Many forget the Clinton years. It was a great scam.
Obama is an H.N.— The new White House Butler.
Be happy with the Clinton third term and the coming depression. Gonna be ugly.
Are you leaving?
Oh ye of little faith. And less sense.
Idredit, eh?
Too much dread, not enough heart.
The coming depression?
Wanna bet?
Like the Clinton depression I guess, huh?
Oh!!!
Wait a minute!!!
There WAS no Clinton depression.
Nevermind.
Your friend,
Emily
Seriously, you are an asshole. That is simply beyond the pale.
Hillary is a fine choice. Bill will be sidelined. Hillary will make sure that he is. She stands, more than any other person, to lose if Bill takes over. She did get control of him, finally, during the campaign.
The whining around here is simply deafening. We are still 60 days from Inauguration, and already people are convinced that obama has a failed presidency.
We are still 60 days from Inauguration, and already people are convinced that obama has a failed presidency.
Actually, I think more people around here are worried that Obama will have a successful presidency, but it won’t be a particularly liberal one.
Which, you know, anyone paying attention during the primaries should have been able to notice. Til the day I die I don’t think I’m going to be able to understand how much of the hardcore liberal folks jumped onto Obama’s bandwagon when policy-wise the differences between he and Clinton could be measured with a toothpick. Maybe even half a toothpick. He told everyone this himself in just about every speech he made, in every policy paper he presented, and in every debate. I’m completely unsurprised by any of the picks he’s making primarily because they’re exactly the type of folks I predicted he’s pick for the jobs given how he campaigned. (I know it’s out of fashion to assume that politicians are telling the truth when they campaign instead of just pandering to various elements to get votes, but shockingly Obama seemed to be telling everyone exactly how he’d govern while he was campaigning and many folks just chose to ignore him and assumed he would be far more liberal in practice than he told everyone he would be. I don’t know – maybe they were listening to Republican propaganda and became convinced he really was a socialist or something.)
The only attribute I could ever see to back Obama over Clinton was that he was outside the Beltway when the Iraq War started and so was able to mount a credible criticism of it from the beginning. I was initially willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that it was good judgment on his part and not just that he was outside the Beltway when the decision was made, but after he made the stupid move on retroactive telco immunity, it became pretty obvious that it really was that he was far enough away from the Beltway that he hadn’t yet been influenced by the hive-stupid that seems to infest the entire city. Still, I’m convinced he’ll be a decent holder of the office – probably better than any in my lifetime (which starts with Nixon, so we’re not talking about high bars to overcome here – “better than Clinton” isn’t exactly Mission Impossible by any stretch). He’s just not going to be the second coming of FDR or anything (unless circumstances force him to be – I could see him reacting to circumstances that push him to enact more liberal policies than he’d propose himself. But I’m not exactly rooting for the complete and total economic collapse / World War that would probably be needed for that to happen for personal reasons.).
Like she did during the campaign?
ABC says Tim is the new Secretary of the Treasury.
From Wikipedia: “In 1999 he was promoted to Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs and served under Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers.”
In other words, he was a member of the crew that got us into this mess. This pick is no better than Larry Summers; in a way it is worse, since he hasn’t been “tested”. The only positive thing about the pick I can see is that he is a career public servant, as opposed to someone from the financial industry, like Paulson (typical of Bush to put someone from industry into the position that is supposed to oversee it).
On the other hand, he’s from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, so he is going to look things from Wall Street’s point of view, which is exactly what we don’t need at this point.
This is an awfully lazy way of doing analysis. Because someone served as someone’s deputy they are tarred with all of their boss’s mistakes?
Because someone is from Wall Street means that they are ill-suited to oversee Wall Street?
You want to build confidence right now and you want someone that fully understands the job. You might want someone to fundamentally change the way Wall Street works but I have a feeling that is going to happen out of necessity, if not design.
Other people posted less lazy replies than mine expressing more or less the same view.
You say that what is needed is someone who “fully understands the job”. I could say the same that you said about HC and State: that understanding the job could be left to the Deputy Secretary.
I think that what is more important at this point for the Secretary of Treasury is for him to understand financial markets, and the necessity for serious regulation, and I don’t think that Geithner understands those things.
The world financial system needs to be rebuilt virtually from scratch. It doesn’t look like there’s anyone on Obama’s team who appreciates that.
One thing that he is is prescient. Fully a year or so ago, he began warning about the subprimes.
You need somebody in who is already trained. No diapers can be used. You need someone who has already been there, seen the operations up close, familiar with the department.
We are in a deep deep hole, and it will take a very capable person to get us out. The CDSs are sitting out there, 10 Trillion, 50 trillion, some say $300 trillion. It will take something very clever to deflate this terrible situation.
Look at the timeline. Clear signs that sub-primes were in trouble started appearing in February 2007. Geithner was hardly prescient.
They’re talking about him over at European Tribune. Given the quote Magnifico dug up, it doesn’t sound too promising.
Credit Markets Innovations and Their Implications – Federal Reserve Bank of New York
And Summers for White House Role or Fed chief
but as long as everyone avoid using the two D words – Derivatives and Depression 2, we’ll continue to be scammed..until 2010.
There’s a nursery tale: Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king’s horses and all the kings men and women could not put Humpty Dumpty together again.
Just about in 2010, greedy Hilary will depart. This post is beyond her skill sets (she how she ran her campaign) Not content to be former first lady, she aspired to Senator then President. It’s the lights that attracts the flies. Clintons – A horror movie that never ends.
In total fairness, the Sec. of State doesn’t really run the state department. That job goes to the Deputy and Undersecretary. Right now, John Negroponte runs the show at State, not Condi Rice. Rice does the big picture stuff, but the administrative stuff is covered by Negroponte.
So, I am not concerned about poor management at State. I’m worried about drama and distractions, primarily from Bill.
There is not a single person on Obama’s team who raised alarms about the financial crisis before it struck or was against the invasion of Iraq. That inspires real confidence in his future administration.
It appears that the Obama administration is not going to be all that much more reality-based than the Bush administration. And that’s a somewhat different question of whether it’s going to be centrist or center-right.
Did anyone?
George Soros and Nouriel Roubini, among others.
A lot of bleating, whining, complaining, yoiking, moaning and groaning going on here and much of it in total ignorance.
Not a single person? In the WHOLE ADMINISTRATION?
Not even one?
Not even Obama himself? Would he count?
Welcome to the third term of president Bill Clinton.
So much for the change you all wanted.
and get it over with, since all is lost, and life is a joke?
I have never seen such a bunch of whining, snivelling, puking babies in my life. JEEEEZUS.