Hillary Clinton Accepts Obama's Offer?

The Guardian is now reporting that Hillary Clinton will accept President-elect Barack Obama's offer to become Secretary of State. My immediate question was, what would the loons at Hillaryis44.org have to say? And they don't disappoint!

Obama however needs a lifeline. Obama knows he is not experienced enough nor qualified to be president -so very much like an earlier Saturday Night Live skit - Obama is placing a 3:00 a.m. call to Hillary Clinton. When we wrote The Obama/Biden Game Show we did not realize it would be a remake of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? featuring a hapless Obama desperately asking Hillary Clinton for assistance. That Obama and his campaign bizarrely derided Hillary as "inexperienced" in foreign affairs (not to mention racist) during the primaries makes the calls of "Hillary HELP" that much more humorous.

Awwwww! It's good to know some things never change. Thanks for keeping it real, Hillaryis44!

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Comments

[Brett Ashley McKenzie - Huffpost Blogger]

Hey, isn't this the unity everyone was clamoring for back in June?

[fem56]

I dutifully went to the Hillaryis44 site. How interesting that they still selling Hillary is 44 t-shirts and buttons. Here is a quote "However, history is a teacher. If you elect a boob expect boobery" How brilliant. What does Hillary think of her fan clubs? It does not seem like a healthy obsession.
I will have to trust Obama on this one. Doing a tremendous job here would certainly be a feather in her cap but I trust Obama instincts a lot more than her's so hopefully she will be a team player.

[JMBrodie]

OBAMA"S potential picks (Revised again, now that HRC seems a done deal) " Who would you select? for the rest

Secretary of the State:
� Hillary Clinton (DONE)

Secretary of the Treasury:
� Paul Volcker (dark horse Paul Krugman)

Secretary of Defense:
� Chuck Hagel

Attorney General:
� Eric Holder

Secretary of Homeland Security:
� Richard Clarke

National Security Adviser:
� Susan Rice

Secretary of Agriculture:
� Jim Leach

Secretary of Commerce:
� Kathleen Sebelius

Secretary of Education:
� Inez Tenenbaum (dark horse Bill Richardson or Arne Duncan)

Secretary of Energy:
� Jeff Bingaman

Secretary of Health & Human Services:
� Howard Dean or Bill Frist

Secretary of Housing & Urban Development:
� Shirley Franklin

Secretary of the Interior:
� Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Secretary of Labor:
� Andy Stern

Secretary of Transportation:
� Ed Rendell

Secretary of Veterans' Affairs:
� Tammy Duckworth

United Nations Ambassador:
� Caroline Kennedy

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency:
� Kathleen McGinty

Council of Economic Advisers:
� Austan Goolsbee

Supreme Court Nominee(s) " pick two:
� Cass Sunstein, Legal scholar and Professor at the University of Chicago Law School
� Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, comprising of Connecticut, New York, and Vermont

[sf girl]

They're so delusional they're almost Republicans.

[SNT1244]

Like it or not the Clintons have a lot of cred internationally. Everyone, friends and foe alike, state that Hillary is a hard worker and will give it her all; and we all know she can be tough. This job will require that she carry out the Obama agenda not the Clinton agenda. "I serve at the pleasure of the President". In meetings she can give her opinion and/or opposition, but at the end of the day the President makes the decision. Although my head has been spinning over this news, especially because I dislike the Clintons tremendously, I have learned not to second guess President-elect Obama.
The latest explanation of this choice points to the Biden factor. Supposedly Joe Biden casts a large shadow over foreign policy, and the Secretary of State must be someone who will work very well with Biden. By all accounts Sen. Clinton is very tight with Biden and works well with him. My understanding is she will be the public face, talking with heads of state. It will be her deputy, perhaps Holbrook, who is actually negociating with foreign ministers.
At the end of the day Barack Obama is smarter than all of us, let him do his thing. We can always criticize his decisions later, once we see the results or consequences of those decisions.

[merle7]

Obama does not rally owe anyone an explanation for is choice, but this one would be nice to know why he chose HILLARY. How her face would demand respect from foreign countries especially the middle east?

[JimR]

Actually, they love the Clintons overseas, much to my bafflement.

[CharlesJ]

This is a good move. We may not agree with it, but it is a good move. Many of us do not like the Clinton Clan and I am one of the many. But when I really sit back and think about it. Several things happen.
1. Clinton's senate seat becomes a non problem, she cant fight him or cause his adgenda to be tied up.
2. Hill now goes completely under the control and oversight of Obama she does HIS bidding.
3. Hill steps out of line, Obama can let her go as quickly as a light bulb goes out when you flip the switch.
4. If that were to happen, remember she is gone, she can not return to the senate unless re-elected and that could be several years if ever.
A very caculating move by Obama, shrewd, thought out and actually when you think about it this can only help him move forward with the least amount of resistance.

[RJII]

Too much drama already. Don't do it O. The Bill effect hasn't even kicked in yet.

[Figerre]

One major problem with the State Dept has been the cuts in staff and intimidation of those left behind. State USED to have nation-builders as part of their crew. They knew how to go in and do civil works - which would be MUCH better than asking our military to do civil building while armed. If that is truly the case, that should keep Hillary fairly busy just hiring personnel able to staff out her dept. Sure put Sen Clinton into State, and then put your watchdog as her deputy and go from there. If she wants the job, she will take the circumstances. If she doesn't - let Bill Richardson do it - less drama. However, then you leave Hillary in the Senate to foment her own brand of drama because her health care plan can't be squeezed into today's circumstances. Start health care with negotiating pharmaceuticals for Medicare/Medicaid like the VA does - that would cut costs dramatical­ly...and not something Sen Clinton has mentioned.

[cktirumalai]

One report speculated (too cynically?) that sending Hillary Clinton to Foggy Bottom, as Washingtonians sometimes refer to the State Department, is one way to get HiIlary out of the Senate, where her health care plan may not be acceptable to the new administration. The other persistent concern in newspaper reports has been if Bill Clinton's international philanthropy and the large speaking fees he accepts fron various sources would compromise Hillary in her work as Secretary of State.

[mazzotti]

So I am proud to be posting here at the huffingtonpost for the first time! That being said here we go. I am sick and tired of the political pundits hacking on and hating on the Clintons..­. except for the Lewinski thing, name ONE thing that the Clintons did wrong in their 8 years of power that did you wrong?? I repeat…YOU WRONG?
As I see it people view success with a strong amount of jealousy and tend to have negative opinions of people whom have achieved far more then they ever will!
I look at Hillary and say what a great lady, that’s right Lady!!!! She is so graceful and strong that she has earned my respect. I am you typical white male in Americas great northwest in California! I am a centrist and voted for Obama after I voted for Hillary Clinton! I think that she will IN FACT be a great Secretary of state and she and her husband can help mend the FORIEGN divide bush/Cheney have created. I also think she is a brilliant women and will bring a strong presence to the international community! I think Barrack knows this and he will be proud to send a real Pit Bull with Lipstick where ever it’s needed! She will get results!
Now I really hope AL Gore is the head of the EPA., that would be cool. Don’t think it will happen!

That’s all for now!

[Stephen C. Rose - Huffpost Blogger]

Re: Hillary -- You will like this then. :)

Hillary & Detroit, Suck It Up & Live With It
http://stephencrosehome.blogspot.com/2008/11/hillary-detroit-suck-it-up-live-with-it.html

[argyle]

Giving China Most Favored Nation status completely destroyed the American manufacturing economy. Remember when mall-wart used to brag that its products were made in the USA?

[Freesia2]

That's one for the books argyle.

I was chewing on mazzotti's challenge to name one thing. (By the way, welcome to Huffington Post mazzotti. :-) Posting is fun, isn't it? I personally enjoy it a lot - it's interesting to hear so many points of view and talk to folks about them.)

Back to the question, my first thought was health care. Hillary Care. She did it behind closed doors and refused to negotiate with anyone. One of the people who tried to reason with her and was told he'd be "crushed like a bug" (I can't think of his name. He's a congressman from Tennessee I believe. I need more coffee.) pointed out recently that if she had been willing to work with others we'd have been enjoying some, even if imperfect, form of universal health care for a decade now. So that did folks wrong.

Also Bill's shoving NAFTA through at the 11th hour without sounder agreements. You can just look around the country and see where that lead.

And I'm fairly certain we wouldn't have a President Bush if Bill had been more disciplined with his private life, which made many voters turn away from Gore and the Democratic party. Add to that they poured resources that should have been used to support Gore into Hillary's senate run instead.

Just a few off the top of my head. (And for the record I don't "hate" the Clintons. I just don't trust them.)

[Fabienne]

You want to know some things Clinton did wrong in his two-term Presidency? Botched healthcare reform. Pushed welfare "reform" without any checks and balances. Pushed free trade agreements without any checks and balances. Deregulated the banking and communication industries, the former causing many of the problems we see today. Placed sanctions on Iraq which killed tens of thousands of people and accomplished nothing. Bombed a babyfood factory. Perpetrated more violence on Serbia than was "necessary", presuming one believes violence is ever necessary. Lost control of the Congress two years into his administration and never regained it. By his own careless actions, allowed the country to waste over a year on the impeachment scam, whether it was justified or not. One might go back further than his Presidential terms and state that the rivers in Arkansas still have not recovered from the favors he gave his buddy Tyson. I could go on but I find this so disheartening that I don't want to.

[DeniseD]

Just one thing? OK, here I go.

Thanks to Bill shutting down all of the bases in California, my husband's business had to close because a large portion of the business was from those bases. Also, partly because of the base closings, housing prices in my neighborhood dropped considerably. We were hit much harder than most areas in California. We were then upside-down in our mortgage and when we got divorced, our house went into foreclosure.

[JimR]

Hillary held secret meetings of the Health Care Task Force, then both Clintons tried to arrogantly shove their plan down everybody's throats in Congress. This alienated members of both parties, and Republicans cited it as a reason to vote for them. This helped Republicans take full control of Congress in 1994, the first time they had held control in 40 years.

Let me know if you want another example.

[davism97]

You know it seems no matter how far back in our history you go, every president had to put up with these kinds of accusations (let's not even get into the torment Washington undeservedly suffered from the Republican press). How about we let President Obama's record in 4 years speak for itself. Let the haters stew in their juices.

[OverIt]

For once Hillaryis44 have a point. That's the only logical explanation for Obama's about-face on Hillary's supposed foreign policy creds. To say I'm disappointed if this is true is an understatement. If I wanted Hillary's hawkish, neocon-lite policies, I would have voted for her in the first place.

[Freesia2]

HuffPost's Pick

That was my first reaction. I could have written your post.

But I was reading over at a blog on The Atlantic, and the take is that it's actually - how did they put it? Something about a decision that is "elegant and shrewd". Because if Hillary is his SOS, then she can't very well plot against him in the senate. It will take the wind out of plotting against his agenda in case there are plans for 2012. Etc.

I'm not happy about it. I was never her fan, was fed up by the end of the primaries. But think about it - one thing Obama has shown is that he knows how to hire. He doesn't pick just anybody. And he's always thinking about 2 steps ahead. Or 10. He has done this over and over and I'm personally inclined to believe that he isn't doing this lightly.

But I understand your frustration. I wanted somebody like Wes Clarke. Or Wes Clarke.

[OverIt]

Congrats on the HuffPost Pick!

I see the point you are trying to make but I am unmoved in my rejection of Hillary as SOS because I am not willing to give up control of our foreign policy for purely political reasons. I voted for Obama to guide our country in the right direction from 2008-2012. He has yet to earn even MY vote for 2012. So --- to paraphrase his own words --- I would ask that President-Elect Obama stay true to his promises and not focus on HOW to win the NEXT election but on WHY HE SHOULD! And that is something that can only be shown by how he runs the country.

Change SHOULD mean the end of the perpetual campaign. That's what I thought I was choosing with my vote.

[Menemshasunset]

"Hillary can't plot against his agenda" The is the reason many of us stopped coming here.
Seems like all of you HuffPo's fell hook, line and sinker for the 15 plus years of Republican $$$$, millions and millions, to tarnish the first First Lady to come into the White House with multiple degrees and a job. Obama's campaign managed nicely to further their story line-the bitch-how dare she think she was qualified to do anything. Hillary Clinton has a resume that can compete with just about anyone in public life- The ignorance here is astounding and incompatible with the new "uniter not divider" that the multitude of adoring HuffPo fans have bought us. And foolish me, I thought after Bush we would go back to a reality based universe where experience mattered-You know- where well done is better than well said.
How silly- It's an American Idol tv show- So here we are with a new season winner- and we must HOPE that the CHANGE he brings, with the help of those able to initiate it-is enough - Will this cult of personality translate into good leadership? George W ran two pretty terrific campaigns that did not turn into the "experience" necessary to run a country. Of course Obama is more than man- he is THE ONE and his TIME IS NOW!

[Fabienne]

Obama does seem savvy and has proven himself competent thusfar. However, perhaps this means she can't plot against his agenda in the Senate, but it also means she can plot against world peace as Secretary of State, as she is a hawk verging on the neocon, and I can't see how someone with her ideas can possibly smoothe over our relationship with the Middle East when she has stated she wants to put a "nuclear umbrella" over it and is willing to "obliterate Iran." The sooner the Democratic Party is free of the Clintons and their lackluster ideas, the sooner it has a chance to become a vehicle for positive transformation in this country.

[truthskr]

Agreed - that Obama would name Clinton to his cabinet should be of no surprise to anyone. And this is indeed an incredibly "elegant and shrewd" maneuver that should be welcomed by all. The Clinton contingent, to which I once belonged very early on in the primary, can toot their horns and pretend to themselves that Obama's desperate and obviously in need of Clinton's second-to-none foreign policy chops (which always seems to boil down to the Bosnia gaffe) and those of us loyal to the Obama brand, and the new Democratic Party, can rest peacefully knowing that Obama has just turned Clinton from a potentially powerful adversary in the Senate to one of his employees, someone who is to serve at HIS pleasure and promote HIS foreign policy.

And, if that isn't enough, in exchange, Bill will have to give up all of his high-powered, high-money speaking and fundraising to boot! So, Obama has essentially neutered the Clintons while convincing them, and their delusions-­of-grandeu­r supporters, that they've been promoted. Utterly genius.

[allonfla]

Do you follow politics at all? This is what politicians do! Clinton said during the primaries that Obama only had a speech under his belt.....b­ut she was one his strongest surrogates on the campaign trail for the general election. Obama knows that actual or not, the average voter believed that Clinton had more foreign policy experience and that she would be tough on foreign threats. He HAD to downplay that and expose her bad judgement on those issues. If she is SoS, OBAMA will be in charge NOT Clinton. It will be his agenda, not hers. Give Obama some credit - he has already thought about all of these pros and cons and obviously he found something worth considering. Hillaryis44 are still licking their wounds from the primaries, they have nothing of value to say and seriously, are we not a little suspicious that the Guardian broke this "news"? Besides, I honestly believe that Clinton is a faux hawk on foreign policy. She is a woman and a Democrat - both seen as weak on National Security - what better way to convince the masses than to act all macho.

[OverIt]

I do follow politics and THAT is why I am disappointed. He was promising a different way of doing things. I DIDN'T VOTE FOR "WHAT POLITICIANS DO". When I voted FOR him --- and it wasn't so much a vote AGAINST Clinton --- I did so because although I thought she had more foreign policy miles on her than Obama (as did McCain) I actually believed that he had the better JUDGMENT and approach. Her neo-con creds are way too settled for me to feel good about this potential appointment.

[Fabienne]

Let's hope. If it's her agenda, we're sunk.

[XME]

I think Obama is simply trying to do what others seem incapable of...not hold grudges, work with rivals, and avoid a team that consists of nothing but yes men/women. I give him a lot of credit since it seems to irritate both the far left and the far right that he seems so able to work with people he disagrees with and to not hold a grudge....­but look at the bigger picture.

[Freesia2]

i don't know what the truth of the Guardian report is Bart - I'm with lobosdad and will believe all news when I hear the familiar "I'm Barack Obama and I approved this message".

Til then, thank you for a fun read. I actually went looking the other day wondering what all the PUMA crowd had been up to. I read....in­teresting!­....things­. It seems the Darragh's and Will's et al are now asking for money because it's occured to them that it takes interested people donating to further their "cause". (I think it also might have occured to them that having REAL people is useful as well, rather than a handful of people with many accounts all required to use a puma picture so as to hide it's just one person and they appear to the curious as litters and litters of kitties. Just sayin'. )

Anyway, I see your morbid curiosity is sympatico with mine and I enjoyed your article. :-)

[Bart Motes - Huffpost Blogger]

It's a real guilty pleasure, isn't it?

[Freesia2]

Delightful :-)

Almost as good as my secret passion for a sneaked bowl of ice cream for breakfast (hey it's calcium). But not quite.

[Simone]

Unless you just want to start a fight - give it a rest. No one but you cares what the republican trolls at Hillary44 think.

[Bart Motes - Huffpost Blogger]

I think at this point, we can all laugh together at the hillaryis44.org and No Quarter lunatics.