More Hillary
November 15th, 2008 by Nick Saint
Within minutes of my writing that speculation of Hillary for Secretary of State was foolish, news sources started reporting that Obama had already offered her the job. I don’t want to seem stubborn, but I’m not biting. Ambinder admits he is unable to confirm the story. As he graciously concedes, it’s possible that others have better sources than he does, but I suspect it means he has a better sense of what sources to rely on. Kevin Drum, meanwhile, is holding the line that this is all nonsense:
Since when do sitting senators give up their seats to become Secretary of State? Muskie did it at the tail end of his career, but I can’t think of anyone else. It’s crazy. Hillary can basically be senator for life if she wants, and we’re supposed to believe that she’d give that up for a cabinet post that probably won’t last more than four or five years?
…
As for Hillary allegedly seeing this as a steppingstone toward another run in 2016, I can only say: huh? I mean, who was the last person to use Foggy Bottom as a springboard to the presidency? Thomas Jefferson? John Quincy Adams? Give me a break. No Secretary of State for over a century has used it as a way to move up the political ladder.
Plus you’d have Bill and all his globetrotting to contend with too. The whole thing is crazy. I guess that doesn’t mean it’s impossible, but I’ll eat my hat¹ if it turns out to be true.
There are plenty of other reasons this doesn’t make sense. The idea that this would be a clever way to neutralize a potential trouble maker in the senate doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense. This ‘team of rivals’ stuff is all well and good, but ‘cabinet of amoral enemies who would gladly sabatoge your presidency for the slightest chance of improving their own political careers’ doesn’t sound like a winner to me.
Also, if you were planning on starting high-level talks with the likes of Iran, Syria, and North Korea, wouldn’t you want people in those high-level positions who hadn’t spent several months attacking as naive and dangerous your idea of starting high-level talks with the likes of Iran, Syria, and North Korea?
Or maybe I’ll have to look up Kevin Drum and have a hat eating party…
November 15th, 2008 at 1:57 am
[...] More Hillary Within minutes of my writing that speculation of Hillary for Secretary of State was foolish, news sources started reporting that Obama had already offered her the job. I don’t want to seem stubborn, but I’m not biting. Ambinder admits he is unable to confirm the story. As he graciously concedes, it’s possible that others have better sources than he does, but I suspect it means he has a better sense of what sources to rely on. Kevin Drum, meanwhile, is holding the line that this is all nonsens [...]
November 15th, 2008 at 2:01 am
[...] More Hillary Within minutes of my writing that speculation of Hillary for Secretary of State was foolish, news sources started reporting that Obama had already offered her the job. I don’t want to seem stubborn, but I’m not biting. Ambinder admits he is unable to confirm the story. As he graciously concedes, it’s possible that others have better sources than he does, but I suspect it means he has a better sense of what sources to rely on. Kevin Drum, meanwhile, is holding the line that this is all nonsens [...]
November 18th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
[...] reason to be skeptical. The move still doesn’t make any sense for either Obama or Hillary (in my not-so-humble opinion), no one has named a source in reporting the story, some generally well informed reporters [...]