Clinton: I Turned Down Secretary Of State Offer At First (VIDEO)

When Barack Obama first asked Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State, she turned him down, she told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos Sunday.

Clinton said she " thought it was absurd" when she first saw her name floated in the press. And when Obama called and asked her, she said, "'I really don't think I'm the person for this, I want to go back to my life. I really feel like I owe it to the people of New York.' And I gave him a bunch of other names of people I thought would be great secretaries of state." But, Clinton added, Obama was very "quite persistent and very persuasive." In the end, she said, "When your president asks you to do something for your country, you really need a good reason not to it."

Watch:

The new book "Renegade" by Richard Wolffe offers Obama's take on the same event.

His decision to offer her the job of secretary of state came surprisingly early. Well before the end of the primaries, when his staff and friends still felt hostile to her, Obama decided that Clinton possessed the qualities to carry his diplomacy to the rest of the world. "We actually thought during the primary, when we were pretty sure we were going to win, that she could end up being a very effective secretary of state," he told me later. "I felt that she was disciplined, that she was precise, that she was smart as a whip, and that she would present a really strong image to the world...I had that mapped out."

Recruiting and managing a team of rivals would not be easy, and Clinton came with her own set of issues. Chief among them was her campaign debt, which she wanted eliminated before she took the job of secretary of state. Would the president-elect go out and help her to do so? "I'm not begging her to take this job," Obama told his senior aides.

Comments

[Whinger]

Clinton said she " thought it was absurd"

Then Bill said, honey you gotta look at the bigger picture, the opportunities that will flow.........!

[DoTheMath]

Interesting that she should emphasize how persuasive Obama was since that has seemed like such an important skill for a president during this election cycle. It was both smart and "big" of her to recognize the president's strengths and to agree to use her considerable strengths to serve the country in a position that was not her first choice. I'm impressed.

[rain33]

i always have been an obama supporter as well voted for him but hillary begged for the job because she wasn't well liked in the senate and she drove instense attention towards the kennedys ever since bill clinton made fun of blacks and disability folks at martha's vineyard which ted kennedy never forgave bill clinton.the clintons thinks that the kennedys owe them big and we want to know why there's a big rift between them.hillary knows damn well that the senators in dc can't stand her;she ranked 34th under joe libermann.sometimes i wished that he had left her in the senate but obama knows what he's doing.hillary needs to shut up and move on;don't be like palin who is a bigger sore loser.i agree with richard wolfe-obama wasn't going to begged her for the job because if she wanted it, she would have to prove it as well earn it ..so far,she's doing ok for now!

[AnnfromCA]

Such baloney...she was and is highly popular with senators. She worked successfully with even past "enemies," who gave her due credit for that.

[SaltySaltillo]

Ann

You are right on this one. Hillary had a lot of clout in the Senate, and even more among her constituents. rain33's comments are just a cascade of gossipy innuendo and speculation.

[Gmoney1]

She became highly unpopular with the dem senators after her behavior during the campaign - Obama saved her from herself - what was "absurd" was her antics and storytelling during the campaign - she's trying to counter Richard Wolfe's book but I think she needs to stay low so she can keep the little positives she managed to earn so far serving under President Obama -

[partyofone]

AnnfromCA, on what basis do you believe Hillary was popular with ohter Senators. Nothing I have read supports that view. As others have noted, the recent excerpt from Richard Wolffe's new book Renegadesays of Obama's intent to nominate HIllary for SoS:

"As it happened, plenty of people in the Senate were begging Obama to offer Clinton the job. Obama's aides believed that many Senate Democrats thought Clinton had extended her presidential campaign far beyond the point where she had lost the election. Her negative advertising wasted Democratic money, threatened to undermine the party's nominee, and suggested that she was disloyal to the party. They were unwilling to offer the junior New York senator a position ahead of her lowly rank, and she stood little chance of becoming majority leader. 'There was a lot of encouragement from inside the Senate to get her into this job," said one senior Obama aide. "They wanted her out of there.' ..."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/31/exclusive-excerpt-from-re_n_209577.html

[loubque]

Damn Hedda Hopper you are up early. Do you write for Star? Only in Star do they have such a vivid imagination. I know it is hard to think of Ms. Clinton being human, but she is and I hardly doubt she begged for the job, because you know Obama rolls that way. "Beg me for it Hillary" hahah I doubt it baby.

[Politiking]

Stop bashing Hillary. She works for the same team. Give her some respect.

[partyofone]

the evidence I see says first and foremost hillary works for hillary, and has not earned the respect you want her to receive.

She has a record in public life that shows a lack of character and very poor judgment (e.g, fumbled health care reform, enabled Bill's reckless personal behavior, helped sell influence to gain money for her Senate campaign, voted for the war in Iraq, badly lead and managed her failed Rove-style, mean, presidential campaign,

[Bulbul]

Hillary Clinton is doing a fine job , too bad some (not Obama) , men and so many women, are threatened by a strong powerful woman, they will come around, she only makes everyone look good to the world....

[loubque]

Do you really think anyone will come around and suddenly not be bigoted? You have such high hopes!

[genia]

I'm glad she's SS..I think she's doing a good job..she's smart and capapable...but.........I don't believe most of the claims she makes. I think she lies very easily and I think she's been doing it for so long she's compulsive.

[munki]

glad you are our SS...

keep on truck'in... get those two ladies out of N.K.
Thanks

[maxwellinformed]

For what it's worth, I have a huge amount of respect for Hillary. I'll leave it at that.

[Rick in Arizona]

I am Proud that Hillary is doing such a fine job working for President Obama and the American People.



If you can't tell.. I want us to succeed.

[berryessence]

YOU ARE SO PERFECT AS SOS

I am so happy you lost! Because we wouldn't had both you and Obama working the foreign policy

GO GO GIRL!!!

[JohnUllmann]

Though I do not like or trust her for triangulating choices and manipulative lies and policy claims when Senator, picking HRC for State was one of the very best things that President Obama could have done.

[I told him to run, in 2004 ("if not now then when?), and I told him to choose her for State! But I don't believe that she hesitated for more than a couple of minutes, for the campaign debt issue. She wanted to get out of the Senate badly, & she was blessed with State for her daughter - to show Chelsea the world.]

It's remarkable how quickly McCain's adversarial relationship with Palin dissolved completely, and how little there is of team-building among the Republicans. R's haven't even begun to try to figure out what went wrong and what is still going wrong with their party...hint: it's Cheney, the Mighty Wurlitzer of FOX that they created and the radical results of media consolidation. As the electoral losers, they are being too smart by half, but it's obvious.

[Yermammy]

"... and so FINALLY, I accepted. Now I go around the world showing what an @ss American's are with their "exceptionalism" and chastise the amused Chinese by reminding them of their civil rights abuses all the while knowing full well of the wiretapping, torture and illegal wars that we engage in."

[ttyy]

So, SHE wasn't ready for the 3:00 am call.

She had to think over her own self-interests before serving her country when called upon.

What a petty little brat.

[dgsweet]

Pure nonsense.

She was a terrific senator and we in NY were sorry to lose her. But I'm proud she represents our country as Secretary of State.

[force fed up]

seems to be a lot of trolls on the site today...

[sjones66]

Just because she blinked first doesn't mean she wasn't ready. It means her mind can handle the complex process of analyzing disparate ideas.

It's called intelligence and political acumen, and Hillary has it in spades. She is an amazing SS, we have an incredible President. They were both excellent candidates; we were lucky to have the options of two such remarkable people.

Obama's calm, non-reactionary demeanor may be serving us better after 8 years of Republican blow-hards destroying our image, but that doesn't negate all Clinton offers us.

[edwarvir]

I don't believe for one mintute that he insisted on her
taking this job. Dr. Susan Rice would have been so much
better for the job of SOS. I still don't trust her.

[damilitantone]

No, Hillary is the one for the job. You can't trust her" She's an American and she wants what's best for the country. She's going to scr@w the rest of us because she lost the nomination? I don't think so.

[Yermammy]

Of course not. It was a Faustian Bargain. "Either I get the SOS or I'm tearing the Democrat Party in HALF, Eddie! HALF!"
That deal was in the bag early.

[melissamsouza]

You've got to be kidding. Susan Rice can't hold a candle to Hillary Clinton. She's barely making it in her current job, where she has been less than impressive.

[SparkyDash]

Ms. Rice is exceptional. Please don't diminish that fact. However, things turned out as they should, and it looks like we have an excellent administration.

[Bulbul]

Why not ? Obama told you so ?
Who is your sourse, do tell !

[soljifire]

for some how i used to hate her but now i love her

[damilitantone]

Fortunately HRC is not a sore loser because she's perfect for the job. Palin can take notes on how it's done right.