Bill Clinton: Obama Administration Role Possible

WASHINGTON — Former President Bill Clinton says it was hard for his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, to decide to give up her Senate seat to become secretary of state in the Obama administration.

The former president told CNN in an interview aired Wednesday from Hong Kong his wife was "shocked" when she learned by reading newspaper articles that she was President-elect Barack Obama's likely choice for the nation's top diplomatic post. She's been a New York senator since 2001.

Deciding to give up her Senate seat "was hard," Bill Clinton said. "She adored being in the Senate."

Clinton says he'll probably be "a helpful sounding board" to his wife, but wasn't expecting any more involvement unless Obama "asks me to do something specific, which I'm neither looking for nor opposed to."

Comments

[strict3]

lll

[shallyv]

she was "shocked"? I'll bet, ol' sleazy Bill!

[soundfury]

If Bill Clinton gets an important position in the Obama administration, then I will see this as a surrender of power to the Clintons, and I will not be the only one.

I see Obama on one side of the scales with only a few loyalists, and the Clintons and their surrogates on the other side. The scales are tipping dangerously in their favor.

[FaceYourFears]

If Obama allows BC anywhere near his Admin, I'll know Barack is not calling the shots nor making decisons.

[Harbinger08]

Read the papers, or at least open your eyes. The country is in a lot of trouble, and the hurt is going to get a lot worse. Obama needs all the help he can get. If you need any reassurance as to who is going to be running things, take a look at his campaign. He's open to opinions, but ultimately he's the one who lays down the law. Get with the program, this ship is sinking, even the Republicans see it.

[horsey]

you may want to visit a shrink real soon, your paranoia is getting the best of you.

[NotMcCain]

He is SO trying to stay on message, but....little things he says still bug me so.

For example, he said Obama choosing Hillary was "smart".

Okay, but I would have rather heard him describe it with the less calculating word "gracious".

Which it was.

[soundfury]

Bill says that giving up the Senate seat was hard for Hillary which is an exaggeration, and he said that he sacrificed more than he really “legally” had to. Odd that he would put it this way? I think that there’s more to all this than just Hillary getting the SoS post. I think he’s expecting a lot more for his sacrifice.

[FaceYourFears]

He said it as if Barack needs Hillary.....

[horsey]

I think he meant to say "real smart" but the point is that is was a great move by Obama. maybe you can't see that because you're fairly shallow when it comes judging people's ability. read some books and that will improve.

[CalculatedRiskTaker]

Bill, we're all looking for a good job after 8 years of the GOP

[butterworth]

HRC was "shocked" to read in the newspapers that she was being considered for SOS? Really? That's kind of hard to believe, because it wasn't IN the newspapers until "someone" leaked the info that she was offered the position at her meeting with Obama. I guess Hillary expects us to believe that she was more out of the loop as to what was going on with the cabinet choices than the general public was.

[duze]

More backroom bull. Why can't the Clinton's leave the building. Why are they always hovering just over the top of an opportunity, ready to take advantage. He is the worst.

[butterworth]

It's a bad sign that I'm hearing more news on the Clintons in this new administration than I'm hearing about Obama.

[jdmccl]

Thats how he was in the senate as well. Silent as Casper. bills the real rockstar, never forget.

[Demi-Crat]

why all the Clinton hatred?? I never could understand it. I think he was a great Prez..

[PresWatch]

You think throwing elderly Americans and children off welfare and outsourcing jobs via NAFTA are signs of greatness?

[PghDemocrat]

If Bill is interested in a position in the Obama Administration, he is free to apply at change.gov. His application will be reviewed along with the other 300K+ and he can wait for the call.

[hardybear]

In all honesty, isn't he considerably more qualified than the bulk of the
300,000 in line?

PE Obama asserts a good deal of respect for President Clinton's experience,
perspective and somewhat unique spot on the world stage. Letting that
level of talent go to waste in these challenging times would be a loss I
don't feel he is willing to advocate.

[sunny555]

Okay, Bill, what's the truth here? Last week we read on HuffPo that your wife was "disenchanted" with the Senate because the other members weren't properly applauding her "historic" run for the presidency. Now you are saying that she "adored" being in the Senate and that she was taken by surprise by Obama's choice of her as SOS.

Does anybody believe this? I highly doubt she was at all surprised. This whole story sounds like one big whopper.

[McChimp]

I don't believe Bill either, sounds like he is seriously trying to kiss Obama's @ss in hopes of getting an appointment just like his wife. Bill continues to show more and more he is about himself first, instead of the needs of his wife and more importantly the American people. Either Bill needs to start being honest or shut his trap, it's his mouth that could damage President Obama's credibility, part of the reason I have been so opposed to Hillary being Secretary of State, Bill has a tendency to stick his foot in his mouth way too much.

[hardybear]

While the Clintons are certainly not above scrutiny, do you
truly see so little good in the works he has done post-presidency?
In terms of feeling that 'he is more about himself first'.

Trying to absorb other POV's. ;)

No denying the foot-in-mouth tendencies, that's for sure.

[sunny555]

Wow, Bill is seriously kissing as*

[Demi-Crat]

he does it for his wife!!!!

[ILikeH00ters]

"Deciding to give up her Senate seat "was hard," Bill Clinton said. "She adored being in the Senate."

Come on Bill. Quit lying. She has no future being as a senator. By the time she gets a respectable chairwoman position in a senate committee, she will be really really old. You should thank President elect Obama.

But for some reason I think Hillary being a Sec. of State was a done deal right after Obama clinched the nomination.

[Carolab]

Watch out; you'll be accused of wearing a tin hat by the numerous members of the "woo-woo" police on this board.

[McChimp]

I agree 100%, it's no coincedence that Hillary was so conviently "disenchanted" with the Senate right before she got named Secretary of State. She probably would have gotten so frustrated being a junior Senator with no committees her ego would have gotten the best of her and she would have run against Obama in 2012.

By picking her, President Obama ties Hillary's fate to his fate. Hillary's successes or failures depend on President Obama succeeding or failing. While I don't wish Hillary to fail as Secretary of State, I will definitely celebrate the day when the Clintons cease to be relevant in politics. They are too polarizing and seem to enjoy bullying their way into getting what they want, whereas the Obamas had to work their way up and won the heartfelt respect of many. The Obama's have class, the Clintons HAD class as a WH couple, but it's turned into politics with them after they left the WH.

[ILikeH00ters]

I seriously doubt she can campaign against president Obama in 2012. Obama, as a POTUS, will blow her experience argument out of the roof. There won't be any 3am Ads. The only thing Hillary can run against is president Obama's policies. If president Obama accomplished half of what he promised by the end of his first time, she will look like a big looser for running in 2012. I am sure WV, KY and Guam will vote for her.

[ILikeH00ters]

I seriously doubt she can campaign against president Obama in 2012. Obama, as a POTUS, will bl0w her experience argument out of the roof. There won't be any 3am Ads. The only thing Hillary can run against is president Obama's policies. If president Obama accomplished half of what he promised by the end of his first term, she will look like a big l00ser for running in 2012. I am sure WV, KY and Guam will vote for her.

[butterworth]

I agree, I think both the Clintons were guaranteed quite a bit of power in exchange for not continuing to rock the boat during the election. Wow, I didn't know when I voted for Obama, I was voting for the Clintons back in full force.

[Carolab]

http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net/Financial_Tsunami/The_Financial_Tsunami_Part_III/the_financial_tsunami_part_iii.HTM

The New York Times described the new financial world created by repeal of Glass-Steagall in a June 2007 profile of Goldman Sachs, just weeks prior to the eruption of the sub-prime crisis: “While Wall Street still mints money advising companies on mergers and taking them public, real money - staggering money - is made trading and investing capital through a global array of mind -bending products and strategies unimaginable a decade ago.” They were referring to the securitization revolution.

The Times quoted Goldman Sachs chairman Lloyd Blankfein on the new financial securitization, hedge fund and derivatives world: “We've come full circle, because this is exactly what the Rothschilds or J. P. Morgan, the banker were doing in their heyday. What caused an aberration was the Glass-Steagall Act.”[9]

Blankfein as most of Wall Street bankers and financial insiders saw the New Deal as an aberration, openly calling for return to the days J. P. Morgan and other tycoons of the ‘Gilded Age’ of abuses in the 1920’s. Glass-Steagall, Blankfein’s "aberration" was finally eliminated because of Bill Clinton. Goldman Sachs was a prime contributor to the Clinton campaign and even sent Clinton its chairman Robert Rubin in 1993, first as “economic czar” then in 1995 as Treasury Secretary. Today, another former Goldman Sachs chairman, Henry Paulson is again US Treasury Secretary under Republican Bush. Money power knows no party.

[JamesR.]

I have to go make popcorn. Watch Brad aka keven7 while you wait:

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=rocky+horror+picture+show&hl=en&emb=0&aq=1&oq=Rocky#q=rocky%20horror%20picture%20show%20Brad%20and%20Frank&hl=en&emb=0

Let the entertainment begin.

[JamesR.]

Oops. Try this:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6055411939241997127&ei=UB83SdrjGIXE-wHm9NmrCQ&q=rocky+horror+picture+show+Brad+and+Frank&hl=en

[luvobama]

Ok. i'm obviously not clever enough to be funny and sarcastic at the same time. I was on that thread and I thought it was hilarious that they are still beating this de ad horse. Sorry if you guys thought i was serious. I will definitely try harder. :)

[scandals-n-skeletons]

George Bush was receiving his daily report from his Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld.

During the report, he said; "And yesterday, three Brazilian soldiers were kil-led in Ir-aq." George suddenly went pale, put his head in his hands and began to sweat profusely.

His staff were astounded. They had never seen him react like this to this little. After he had recovered slightly, he brought his head up and asked; Just how many is a bazillion?

[ILikeH00ters]

Actually this is not a joke. It was true.

[jdmccl]

Those Yale Econ grads are not worth the paper. Ivy leage Harvard lost 8 billion so mabe PE is just as smart?