Hillary Clinton for the State Department?

It is difficult to understand just what Barack Obama sees in Hillary Clinton as secretary of state in his administration. Granted, other selections of former Clinton officials make sense because of the experience they bring to the table. But as Clive Cook argues experience isn't Hillary Clinton's strength for state:

I think choosing Hillary as secretary of state would be a mistake. Not because of Bill. The new administration can choose to use him or not, regardless. The "two for the price of one" stuff is ridiculous: they are not exactly chained together. Equally, if Hillary were the best candidate for secretary of state, it would be absurd to deny her the offer because of Bill's post-presidential connections. Scrutiny in future is really all that is required there.

The problem is that she is not well qualified. She is not by any stretch of the imagination a foreign policy expert. I would not call her a born diplomat. Her first priority would be to advance her own presidential ambitions, not to help make the Obama presidency such a success that those hopes die. The "team of rivals" idea is wonderful so long as the rivals are fully invested in the success of the enterprise. In this case, it seems doubtful. Could Hillary defer to Obama, and carry out his instructions to the best of her ability? I doubt it. And it would not help that everyone would be watching for the first sign of friction or insubordination. The soap-opera dimension would be highly counter-productive.

What is Obama thinking, I wonder? That the party would be delighted? Yes it would, but so what: the election is already won. Or is it something to do with keeping your friends close and your enemies closer?

Change We Can Believe In?

The political world is abuzz with rumors that President-Elect Barack Obama summoned former rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to Chicago to offer her the position of Secretary of State. With already so many Clinton associates part of the transition team as well as the new administration and now H. Clinton being offered this significant position, is this the change we can believe in?

Hillary Comes Through

Last night's speech by Hillary Clinton hopefully began the process where the Democratic party will emerge united to do battle against the presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. If there was any lingering doubt about Sen. Clinton's support for Barack Obama, her call for acclimation in the nomination of Obama should put it to rest:

“With eyes firmly fixed on the future in the spirit of unity, with the goal of victory, with faith in our party and country, let’s declare together in one voice, right here and right now, that Barack Obama is our candidate and he will be our president.

“I move that Senator Barack Obama of Illinois be selected by this convention by acclamation as the Democratic nominee for president of the United States.”

Hillary's Concession Speech

This had to be among the most difficult speeches Hillary Clinton ever delivered in all her years of public service. After an often bruising campaign of 17 months that ended with Barack Obama emerging as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Clinton suspended her campaign, conceded her defeat, thanked her supporters, and called for party unity against Republican John McCain. Although some might quibble that the tone was insufficiently forceful or heartfelt, I think she sounded the right themes and said everything that needed to be said. It was a necessary, however belated, first step for Democrats to heal their divisions and close ranks for what promises to be a hotly contested and hard fought campaign over the next twenty-two weeks.

Hillary as VP

The text of a published letter to the D. C. Examiner about Hillary Clinton as Obama's vice presidential running mate.

Obama would get not one, but two co-presidents

Re: “Agree? Disagree? Barack Obama will not choose Hillary Clinton to be his running mate,” June 4

Barack Obama should not choose Hillary Clinton as his vice presidential running mate because the office of the presidency is not a triumvirate. With Hillary ensconced in the vice presidency, Obama will automatically get husband Bill, and therefore would be saddled with both Clintons — who maniacally believe they are entitled to be president.

Craig Taylor
Alexandria, Virginia

Finally

Hillary Clinton is set to announce on Friday that she has brought her 17 month campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination to an end and will endorse Barack Obama.

"The Deranged Narcissism of the Clintons"

Yesterday the Associated Press reported that Hillary Clinton was ready to deliver a concession speech in New York on Obama clinching the Democratic presidential nomination. Then Clinton operative Terry McAuliffe rushed to CNN to clarify the situation, saying that she would do no such thing. Later there was some talk that she would acknowledge but not concede Obama's victory. So given Hillary's unwillingness or inability to acknowledge for weeks that it was all over but the shouting, last night's speech by Hillary in which she neither acknowledged nor conceded anything was not surprising. CNN commentator Jeffrey Toobin put it best when he described Hillary's performance as yet another example of "the deranged narcissism of the Clintons."

Quotable

Appearing on this morning's Tom Joyner Morning Show and taking a page from the movie Sex in the City, comedienne Sheryl Underwood said Hillary Clinton's girlfriends need to sit her down and tell her "the country just ain't into you like that."

Clinton Supporter Labels Obama "Inadequate"

This is a Clinton supporter who obviously has lost her mind (of course, that assumes she had one to lose in the first place), calling Barack Obama "an inadequate black man" in the wake of the Democratic National Committee rules panel's decision to seat the Michigan and Florida delegates with a half vote each - a stunning blow to Hillary's slim chance to win the Democratic presidential nomination. It goes without saying that this does little to promote Democratic party unity necessary for the general election campaign against Republican John McCain.

Another Clinton Defeat

Today the Democratic National Committee's rules panel voted to seat delegates from Michigan and Florida with a half vote each. Although this is yet another blow to Hillary Clinton's candidacy, it will not in all likelihood be sufficient enough inducement for her to bow out of the campaign.

Getting Late

Damn, I am sick and tired of the Clintons. I mean there isn't a day that goes by without Hillary or Bill saying something stupid and self-serving in justifying why she remains in the race, despite being, for all intents and purposes, mathematically eliminated. Hillary's latest ploy is to invoke the name of the Almighty: "There isn't anything we cannot do together if we seek God's blessing and if we stay committed and are not deterred by the setbacks that often fall in every life." And then there's Bill who claimed that the firestorm of reaction triggered by Hillary's Robert Kennedy assassination gaffe raised his blood pressure, not exactly a good thing for someone having undergone heart surgery: "That really made my blood boil." The sooner Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee, and the Democratic Superdelegates step in and tell the Clintons to end Hilary's candidacy, the better off the Democratic Party will be and the focus can finally turn to Sen. John McCain and the general election in November.

Hillary Clinton's Gaffe

For Hillary Clinton apparently nothing is out of bounds to justify continuing her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination despite the fact that mathematically it is practically impossible for her to overtake Barack Obama. Her latest gaffe, for which she has subsequently apologized, is in invoking the name of Robert Kennedy, who forty years ago campaigned into June when he was gunned down by an assassin's bullet.

This Woman Candidate in Particular

Hillary Clinton supporters are now whining that her failed candidacy can be attributable to rampant misogyny and sexism in the media and in the Obama campaign. Not surprising the feverishly incoherent Geraldine Ferraro is easily the most prominent spokeswoman of this particular point of view. In a recent FOX News interview, Ferraro's sundry complaints about how her candidate has been grievously wronged was on display for all to see. Hold up a minute. Hillary's failed efforts to secure the Democratic presidential nomination has far less to do with an anti-woman bias than it does a terribly flawed campaign and the baggage generated from the Clinton years in the White House. To be sure, there are some folks out there who will never support a woman but this campaign is not about women candidates in general but specifically about this woman candidate in particular.

Hillary's Peculiar Math

Last night Sen. Hillary Clinton told a crowd of Louisville supporters: "This is one of the closest races for a party's nomination in history. We're winning the popular vote, and I'm more determined than ever to see that every vote is cast and every ballot counted." What she conveniently fails to mention is that she's leading in the popular if the caucuses (which Obama dominated) are excluded and the votes in the outlaw primaries of Michigan and Florida are counted.

The Breaks

Hillary Clinton cannot catch a break. The day after her 41-point victory in the West Virginia primary, former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards endorses Barack Obama in Michigan during the evening news where the story was picked up by ABC News and other outlets. And as if that was not bad enough, the news is that her campaign is $20 million in debt.

In Denial

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, in the oped piece Seeds of Destruction, makes the point that the Clintons are not particularly adept at executing exit strategies. So with Obama effectively the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton could not resist playing the race card, because truth be told, that's all she has at this point: "I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on." She cited an Associated Press article "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."

Misguided Praise

Heard a CNN report that a superdelegate, previously neutral but about to declare for Barack Obama, express admiration for Hillary Clinton's "true grit" in staying in the race despite Barack Obama's insurmountable lead. This admiration is misplaced and misguided. At some point, the Clintons have to decide: Is this race about the future of the Democratic Party or about their unbridled ambition? The tone and tenor of the Clinton campaign, particularly in the last few weeks, suggest that it's more of the latter.

Time for Superdelegates to Step In

"I am not a member of any organized party," humorist Will Rogers observed "- I am a Democrat." Rogers' observation continues to resonate today in the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination between the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, where Clinton apparently cannot bring herself to realization that, barring some unforeseen catastrophic event, Obama's lead is insurmountable and she needs to find a way to bow out of the race so the Democrats can finally unite behind a nominee to oppose the presumptive Republican nominee John McCain in the general election. The Financial Times, in its lead editorial Obama recovers his momentum, makes the essential point that the superdelegates need to step in and end this seemingly interminable campaign:

From the point of view of the Democrats’ prospects in November, this campaign is now getting dangerously dirty, with both sides en trenching themselves within almost tribalised constituencies: white, working-class voters, women and the elderly for Mrs Clinton, black voters , the college-educated and the politically awakened young for Mr Obama. It is not just the animosity that is growing visibly between them and significant groups of their rival coalitions – some of whom are indicating they will not close ranks and turn out to vote for the eventual victor – that should tell the party the contest is over. Nor is it just the strident attack advertising that is building up an arsenal of ammunition for John McCain, their Republican opponent, to use.

Obama's Refusal

A published letter to the editor of the D.C. Examiner in response to Barack Obama's refusal to participate in more debates with Hillary Clinton:

Re: Agree? Disagree? “Barack
Obama is right to refuse to partic-
ipate in any more debates with Hill-
ary Clinton,” April 25
With already more than 20 so-
called debates between these can-
didates, Barack Obama is right in
refusing to participate in more de-
bates with Hillary Clinton. At this
point, more debates do not serve
any useful purpose and are like-
ly to devolve into the silliness that
was the Pennsylvania debate.
Craig Taylor
Alexandria

Low Rider

The New York Times, in its lead editorial The Low Road to Victory, states, "It is past time for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to acknowledge that the negativity, for which she is mostly responsible, does nothing but harm to her, her opponent, her party and the 2008 election." It is demonstrably clear that the Clintons - and Bill must be in the equation - will resort to anything including negativity to win the Democratic presidential nomination, and if that, in the long run, harms her opponent Barack Obama and the Democratic party then so be it. The Clintons' unbridled ambition does not take a backseat to anything.