I am a Democrat, a Biden caucus-goer, and an Obama supporter. I admire Hillary and feel she is a respectable and accomplished politician who can best serve her goals and the needs of her followers by remaining in the senate and using her advocacy skills on a great range of issues.
1. Her single-minded independent, while it is certainly an asset as a senator and an advocate for children and women, is not a skill needed for a advisor and conciliator. I fear she views the State Department as a more effective platform to advance her own agenda, like as if her style of being a first lady was institutionalized and legitimized. I have a feeling that her tenure will be interspersed with speeches like the one she gave in china on women’s rights and she will have little interest in doing Obama’s diplomatic errands.
2. “Team of Rivals” is far to accurate of a description of my worst case scenario idea of the situation room with her at State and Biden as V.P. There is no doubt in my mind that Hillary is well versed on foreign policy and is more than qualified to be Secretary of State, but no one, absolutely no one that I can think of, can outmatch Joe Biden’s wealth of knowledge on foreign affairs. He is the definitive authority on diplomacy and statecraft, and yet, I fear that Hillary Clinton lacks the humility to admit this and will view any attempt by Biden to advise Obama or to even take a role in crafting policy as an attempt by him to steal her spotlight. I am afraid that her ambition with prevent her from working as a team member.
3. Bill Clinton.
3 Comments
Nov 25, 08 at 11:41 pm
haha! i loved number three; nice one
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i do disagree in general; i tink a healthy contention will develop, and the pool of foreign expertise can hardly be a bad thing, but Obama will keep the train steady i should think; and between various meetings and other accessories i think the two would be forced to agree on at least the ends when they rarely see each other.
Nov 26, 08 at 12:25 am
Add to the fact that a huge chunk of the new administration are old Clinton regime hacks, and Obama may have inadvertently bitten off more than he can believe in.
Nov 26, 08 at 12:31 am
see my previous post for my position on members of the Clinton “regime” in obama’s cabinet