Clinton 'Disenchanted' With The Senate

The New York Times reports that one factor in Hillary Clinton's decision on moving to the Cabinet is a disappointment with the Senate:

The uncertainty, a week after Mr. Obama met with Mrs. Clinton in Chicago to discuss the idea of her leading the State Department, kept Washington spinning in feverish speculation about whether the two former rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination would team up. Mrs. Clinton was keeping counsel only with a tight circle of confidants, leaving even prominent veterans of the Clinton political operation guessing as to her intentions.

But driving her consideration, friends said, is a sense of disenchantment with the Senate, where despite her stature she remains low in the ranks of seniority that governs the body. She was particularly upset, they said, at the reception she felt she received when she returned from the campaign after collecting 18 million votes and almost becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major party.

"Her experience in the Senate with some of her colleagues has not been the easiest time for her," said one longtime friend who insisted on anonymity in exchange for sharing Mrs. Clinton's sentiments. "She's still a very junior senator. She doesn't have a committee. And she's had some disappointing times with her colleagues."

Read more about Hillary Clinton and the Secretary of State post here.

Comments

[JordanKokich]

When Ted Stevens, seven time felon, gets a standing 'O' on the floor, who wouldn't be disenchanted with that body of hacks?

Hill to smart to waist away there, and Obama knows it.

[ScooterLiddy]

You might try spell check. Your illiteracy is showing.

[larazon]

Why am I not surprised? There is one reason only why Hillary ran for the Senate: to run for President as soon as feasible, and everyone knew it. It wasn't in the cards and now she's bored. Ambition is her life.

[JordanKokich]

yeah like just like Obama began running fro prez as soon as he won his Senate seat... lol. lets apply some balance here. Ambition is only a negeative when applied to a woman. No one seems mind Obama's audacious ambition.

Stop the blind sexism please.

[wdw102]

no only when it is her though

[HerbTee]

Hey, unless you've been living under a rock the past 20 months, Obama took plenty of heat daily for his inexperience and for being too junior of a Senator to run for POTUS. Even Hillary slammed him big time about it every chance she got. But here's the kicker! Obama had the guts to run for POTUS in spite of being a junior US Senator...­while Hillary played it safe. What was stopping Hillary from running for POTUS in 2004?

Throw out that sexism card all you like! That won't change the fact that Obama had the audacity to run for POTUS earlier in his career while Hillary did not. So what's sexist about that?? Your sexism argument is a VERY weak point.

[dajay]

Yes. How many days did Obama stay in the Senate before he was looking to be president?

But that's okay. He can be ambitious.

He wasn't an intelligent woman.

[Ugonna]

look at the hypocrites here who complain about the race card,and use the GENDER card every two seconds!! Is it so HARD to comprehend that people just don't like Hillary or think she has behaved abominably? Even if we're wrong, is the only reason in the world that makes sense to you her gender? Does it even matter that some of us are women?? I had actually looked forward to her running for Prez, and she ruined it with her attitude. Contrary to what you think, Obama was not thinking about Prez when he ran for senate, it was a decision he made afterward with much prodding from many supporters who knew him. He decided that the brand of change he always campaigned with might work in an era that has just suffered under Bush. Clinton on the other hand always seemed to be waiting for to be Prez. Not a crime at all, but when its so bad that she can't stand her job as Senator, that's when it gets pathetic.

[KickerBoard]

You're right. Whatever doubts remained about Senator Entitlement's say-anythi­ng-do-anyt­hing attitude to politics were all confirmed during her odious and incompetent me-me-me campaign.

[macbabe]

and if she does a good job, she just might get her wish in 2016, but that's 8 years from now and we can't do anything about it now, so lets suck it up and hope for the best.

[wdw102]

good we get clinton out of the senate....­...obama gets to be clinton jr.....and we get to make jokes

[macbabe]

and comedians are THRILLED for the material for the next 8 years!!

[wdw102]

oh yes, but if clinton got in the first lady jokes for billybob clinton would have worked for a long time

[Hekerui]

With regard to the many misunderstandings I read here:

Hillary is chair of a subcommittee on the Environment (superfund und env. health) but not likely to pick up a whole committee in quite a few years, even with Teddy or Byrd retired.

Lieberman retains his seniority from the Democratic years because he has uninterrupted service.

[Januarycarol]

Not a team player.

[macbabe]

is there evidence of that with her in the Senate? .. just asking.

[Hekerui]

Then how come she has been praised as such by her Democratic colleagues and people like McCain, who is frequently bipartisan?

[macbabe]

lets not use JM as an example, he likes ANYTHING in a skirt! lol

[britethere]

Yes...the neocons and war criminals love the idea of Hawk Hillary as SoS.....Se­e Kissinger, Eagleton, and the guys over at NRO.

[JSiobhan]

Really? So Clinton never spent any time attending fundraisers or stumping for Obama or her fellow Democrats during the last election or in entire her political career. What an awful person.

[realtalking]

Hillary darling, you must remember that you are not a princess, you are just a citizen of your country, you are a civil servant, and your top priority, as such, should be to do the best thing you can do, for your country. Please STOP thinking about your legacy, and your ego, and START thinking about your country, and the people who live in this country, who you claimed to care about while you were running for president. I have often heard you and Bill Clinton talk about being good civil servants, yet you, Hillary always seem to be complaining about doing that job as a good civil servant. I personally have never bought into your devoted civil servant claims, personally, I think that you are truly driven by the need to prove to those who have looked down on you for staying with a cheating dog of a husband, that you know aht you are doing, and that you will make it out on top in the end. BUT maybe Hillary, you need to stop trying to do that now, and start simply BEING YOURSELF, living for yourself! Stop trying to impress others, and simply serve your country, IF, that is truly what you wish to do. IF it is not what you want to do, then just leave government work behind, take some of your husband's millions, and go off, and make ANOTHER career for yourself. PLEASE HILLARY, JUST MAKE A DECISION ALREADY, AND GET ON WITH IT!!!!

[macbabe]

she decided already, we are just waiting for it to be official, sometime after Thanksgiving.

[AlexFTW]

Wanna buy a bridge?

[isom74]

Don't worry Hill. The working white people still love you, so you got that going for you, which is nice.

[roshni]

Is that the hard working white people or the working white people - confused here.

[HerbTee]

Stupid comments from Hillary like the one you've just made here is exactly WHY she failed miserably to beat an unknown junior Senator from Illinois and capture the White House.

Oh yeah, Hillary also said hard-working White Americans wouldn't vote for Obama in the states that Democrats MUST win in order to become POTUS and that only she could get those votes. Hellooooo! Well let's see...Obam­a handily won those hard-working White American votes in PA, NC, OH, IN, VA, FL, MI and a few other states where Democrats haven't won or done well within in decades.

[JSiobhan]

I hate rehashing the primaries but if have to mention stupid statements by politicians I noticed you did not mention the "bitter" comment or how Obama told voters McCain would use Obama's race to scare voters. White Americans did vote with their economic interest in mind and McCain's campaign did not use the race card. It shows politicians can make comments that are interpreted and overblown by the media and their opposition.

Obama did win white votes in PA, NC, OH and IN even though everyone claimed these voters were racist. To you, the racist view gave power to Clinton's statement because you thought voters would view it as race baiting comment. Obama won in those states because people believed in Obama whether he was black or white. But many Obama supporters undeservedly accused millions of Americans as racist which had more of a negative impact than anything Clinton ever said.

[JohnnyKay]

What's 'white' got to do with it?

[roshni]

Ask Hillary.

[classc 1]

:SIGH: Now why did you have to remind me of THAT comment. Sad. Just really sad.

[bluguy8]

stupid comment--most people no matter their color are hard working. in this economy what else is there

[britethere]

Guess you missed the X-Presidents wife saying that when she was trying to remind the racists in WV and KY that Obama was black and all those lazy people were for him while the "hard working (whites) were for her. You missed the point of isom's right-on comment

[onlyThis]

Wasn't this in The Onion a few months ago?

[satyriasis]

The senate is full of dry old men who squabble all day and accomplish nothing. They're completely out of touch with the people they supposedly represent. There are a few exceptions, like Russ Feingold of course. Both Hillary and Obama just used the senate to launch their presidential campaigns because they knew real change can only come from the presidency. I'm glad she's leaving. She'll fit in more with the executive branch.

[tlintx]

I agree, and as a female Hillary is not going anywhere in the Senate due to being a female. In America women are not progressing, as in other countries, but degressing. Women in politics has actually been decreasing over the years.

FACTS:
In 2009 there will be less than half the number of women who first won office in 1992 in Congress.
Women serving in statewide elective office will be 24% compared to a high of about 28 percent in 2000.
We have all seen the media's sexist hazing of both Clinton and Palin. For those than want to rationalize the treatment keep this in mind, the same under current happens to women candidates on a state level too.

Men & Women, you had better wake up. It will be you, your daughter, or grand-daughter tomorrow.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/11/the_glass_ceiling_holds_strong.html

[Anastasia]

Old joke:

A man was bitten by a stray dog and the authorities tested the dog for rabies. A few days later the man's doctor called him in and said, "I'm sorry sir, but the dog, is mad." The man replied, "The dog is mad!?!"

Hillary put the Democratic Party through the wring last spring, with her threats to take her fight to the floor of the convention, even though there was no path to the nomination. By dragging out the primaries long past the time when she could win, she curtailed building party unity, and jeopardized fundraising for the DNC and her Senate colleagues.

She consistently claimed that Obama couldn't win, she played the race card, and inferred that John McCain would make a better president. She assumed that she was the only possible choice for the nominee and when things didn't turn out her way, she threatened to go nuclear.

That she has no remorse and apparently has no awareness of how inappropriate and distressing her behavior was, is disturbing.

[Fitzy]

And now she's DISENCHANTED with the Senate. Hello!??

[dajay]

She played the race card??????­??????????­??????????­??????????­?????????

[roshni]

Hard working white people -

[robXdion]

Still can't accept that can you? Let's see. . . .

-Marginalizing MLK as insignificant to the Civil Rights Act being signed.
-Using surrogates to play on Obama's race for her.
-Bob Johnson stereotyping
-Geraldine Ferraro race-baiting
-Tavis Smiley handicapping
-Hard working white voters
-Leaking the Kenyan native garb photo
-"He's not Muslim as far as I know"
-Darkening his photo for ads
-Telling Gov. Richardson and her supporters, "He can't win!" While never specifying WHY. . . which leaves the obvious race issue as her selling point, but leaves it up to the listener to reach that conclusion knowing full well Obama doesn't have anything else AGAINST him.

So many ways this was done. Anything that reminded whites of race in a negative way to draw votes to her was "playing the race card". It may not have worked for YOU, but it worked for many Democrats and McCain-Palin Republicans. Oh, and BTW Obama never once accused her or Bill of anything. 3rd party sources did it for him because these tactics have a long history in American politics.

[Bitsko]

It's called good old American cutthroat politics, and that's how pols like the Clinton's play it, but it's not like they invented it.

[papa1893]

Hillary is a control person. Another one my way or highway. Wants to be President and did not have the creditials. First Lady for 8 years,Senator for 6. What else?? Nada. Yes, maybe smart but there are many women in the Senate and House that are just as smart or smarter. Whine Whine. The Clintons cannot seem to go away and maybe if She gets Sec. of State this will keep her satisfied until She gets bored with that posiiton.

[HerbTee]

To let you know where I am personally coming from, I've been a solid Obama supporter months before his Iowa primary win. As a life-long "yellow dog" Democrat, there's no way I can ever vote for a Clinton! I haven't voted for them to this date and probably never will. I NEVER trusted the Clintons and that goes many years back. My reasons are my own...you can either accept my rationale or not. Obama showed me early that he had the juice, even when I initially feared his chances of winning as an African American were slim. Regardless, I strongly supported him, donated to him, placed my hopes and dreams into him and truly believed in him when many African Americans I knew solidly supported Hillary.

I feel I've personally walked through this arduous journey emotionally and physically with Barack and Michelle, as has millions of his devoted supporters. It almost feels like I've been through combat. I felt almost every emotion that Barack and Michelle have felt. Accordingly, his devoted supporters don't like it when the Clintons now try to disrupt his efforts to govern, how they belittled him or tried to tear him down. I hope some will understand, but many of you won't and that's OK.

Hillary may become SoS in the end. I believe Barack to be the best POTUS for our time. If he selects Hillary, I’ll accept it. But that doesn't mean I like it or cannot voice my strong displeasure.

[Fitzy]

Ditto!

[SharonAustinTX]

Many of you remember the bad stuff from the primary and rightly so. But once Hillary gave in and accepted her loss, her speech at the convention brought unity to the Party. She has repeatedly asked her supporters to support Obama/Biden, campaigned for Obama 64+ times. It took Bill a bit longer to get with the program but he did at the end.

I've been an Obama supporter from the beginning and now looking back, I don't think we could have won in some important states if not for Bill and Hillary's strong backing. Hillary has been a team player and is very ambitious and I believe everything she does is with the future in mind.

When Obama ditched the press and met privately with Hillary in another senator's home right after the primary, it was not just an olive branch. I believe there was an agreement spoken or unspoken that if Hillary worked for Obama's victory, he would take care of her. I have no facts to back up my opinion, but it makes sense.

Hillary is a career politician and is very intelligent and brings skills with her that will be beneficial as SoS. If Obama and Hillary develop a trusting bond, it could be a win for everyone. Personally, I can't imagine anyone not becoming a loyal supporter of Obama. His people skills are irresistable (I know I'm biased and if I had the opportunity to be part of his transformational administration, I would be honored).

[butterworth]

Nice post, HerbTee. My concern is that such a prominent post will cause Hillary to once again believe she is some sort of Co-President, just as she assumed was true with her First Lady position.

[Bitsko]

I doubt that will happen. Mr. 0bama has shown that he is the boss.

[HerbTee]

Thanks BW...a little emotion on my part. But I wanted to add some personal feelings behind my posts against Hillary as SoS, much as I did when the pundits, the PUMAs and the MSM kept trying to shove Hillary as VP down Barack's throat. I was totally against Hillary's VP selection as well and debated vigorously with PUMAs on HuffPost for months. I don't want the Clintons anywhere near the Obama Administration!

The Clintons are d.i.s.r.up­tive, de.c.e.p.t­.ive, di.s.h.o.n.e.st, ca.l.c.u.l.a.t.i.ng, politically vic.i.o.u.­s people without any kind of civil or decent restraint about themselves or their actions toward others. If Obama gets too mixed up with them, I feel they'll eventually try to inhibit his Presidency, destroy his standing with his supporters or even try to divide the Democratic Party into two camps. It may sound extreme, but I wouldn't put this past the Clintons. If the Clintons can't take the village, they'll d.a.m.n sure burn it to the ground!

[dajay]

How about the way HE and his campaign belittled and tried to tear down Hillary and President Clinton.

[papa1893]

dajay: Wrong. He was polite to the Clintons. Yes, his supporters commented with much vigor. But, only when She and Bill said things that were beyond the pale.

[EarthToZoey]

Thank you for you empathetic post. I respect your opinion and appreciate the way you presented it with a level-head.

Even though I do not share your feelings about the Clintons, I do share your feelings about the Obamas. I supported them through the primaries and the general, donated the max of money, time, and energy to the cause.

I want a Democratic realignment in politics and I know that if we *support* our POTUS (not blindly, but constructively) we will see that paradigm shift.

[EarthToZoey]

you = your

[who38]

Poor baby.

[gregjones]

OBAMA TALK RADIO ! Tonight ! 8pm (est) Listen/Call-In LIVE !
Nothing But The Truth with Greg Jones
Join Us ! Tonight !

Question: Should Hillary Be SoS

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stations/HeadingLeft/The-Greg-Jones-Show/2008/11/24/NOTHING-BUT-THE-TRUTH-with-Greg-Jones

[madmilker]

and i wus thinking she wus jus disenchantment with tat MIApollo crap!

[valkyrie607]

Hillary has a point: the Senate has been a disappointment to thinking people who care about their country. Ever since the Democrats won a majority, they've wasted their power and political capital by capitulating to Bush and his posse of law-breaking hacks. They've done nothing to fulfill the promises they made to the voters who put them in power. They've done nothing to stop the war in Iraq, nothing to stop torture by our government, and they've done nothing to stop the illegal spying on American citizens by our government. So I can understand that Hillary is disenchanted with the Senate, and her saying so wins her a few brownie points in my book. I wish she'd be more direct and tell us what she really thinks.

[KickerBoard]

Hillary's been a part of that problem! Check out her voting record on all of those issues that concern you - hardly stellar, my friend.