I agree, Bob. If the Clinton drama & baggage can be kept to a minimum, this could be a brilliant move.

1. It puts her on the line. She can't be the "McCain of the left" now and position herself as the alternative should the administration find trouble. Her success would now be tied to a successful Obama administration. (Keeping her in line while positioning her well for 2016?)

2. It sends a good message to the rest of the world, where the Clintons are already popular. It also brings Bill Clinton into the fold and may suggest that the U.S. intends to do more with fighting HIV/AIDS abroad.

Having said that, keeping the Clinton baggage & drama to a minimum is a big "if."

This is in violation of Bob Commandment number 1. "Thou shall not dip into the Senate." I am working on other Bob Commandments. I am thinking "Thou shall put filthy fucking rich bastards in jail for this economic disaster." I too wanted to break my fucking PDA when I read that shit about AIG. This is criminal. I am hoping that someone who was a Constitutional Law Professor at Chicago School of Law puts these assholes on trial. KO is right. This will be called the reason Daddy went to jail.

I respectfully disagree, Bob.
As a pragmatic idealist, I think Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State would be a bad idea, for a couple of reasons.

1. Her foreign policy views are starkly different than Obama's. Based on her campaign attacks on Obama for his foreign policy views, I have a very hard time believing that she would "stay on point" in carrying out foreign policy directives from President Obama if she disagrees with his policies.
I think that unlike Rahm Emanuel, Hillary Clinton would not be a "good soldier," with an ability to put her personal ambitions and beliefs aside.

2. Even more importantly, she is far more valuable to NY, the Democratic Party, and America as a US Senator from New York.

Bill Richardson is my pick for Secretary of State. He has the credentials, the experience, the courage, and is in alignment with Obama on his approach.

Uh Oh.

Cousin Avi isn't going to be a campy happer.

I just do not see it happening--it would be a big mistake on Obama's part. The BBQ media has been all Bubba all the time this morning--the library, blah, blah, blah...Big distraction, big mistake.

If this happens, watch all of the Clinton Concern Trolls miraculously transform into the real BBQ media who have hated the Clintons for 17 years.

I'm afraid that I'm also going to have to take issue with Bob's take.

Hillary Clinton has demonstrated, via her voting record and via her campaign, that she lacks intelligence (e.g. unnecessarily blowing her wad after she lost Wisconsin), leadership skills (her campaign staff was a mess) character, integrity, and courage. The good people of New York can have her. I don't want her in my administration.

Richard Holbrook would be my pick for Sec. of State.

I have mixed feelings on this.

While Obama has different foreign policy creds than Clinton, the combination could be powerful - and Obama as the executive will set the direction but will be effectively challenged by the other pov. That said - Clinton's management skills seem lacking, and her strength seems to be in policy and theory, more than executive leadership and diplomacy. And as has been mentioned - Bill's outside interests may be a major concern and embarrassment.

What I don't get is why not AG? I've liked the idea of Hillary in the AG role ever since it became apparent that Edwards wasn't going to get it. She's got the policy chops, and the aggressiveness to do well in the roll, and she could push on the administration to take on some of the abuses of power that we've seen - including potential criminal issues with the telcos.

More than that - I'm curious why Bob thinks that the politico article means that Hillary's got the Sec of State nod. Everything I'm reading seems to suggest that this is still mostly rumor, and Ben Smith seems to add an odd caveat about if the Clinton camp is seen making leaks it will irk the Obama camp... which seems like a CYA to me.

QT

This may be payback for Bubba's support. The way I see this playing out is that Biden's gonna retire somewhere along the line and position Hilary as VP heading into 2016. It's a long way down the line, but they're putting the chess pieces on the board today.

Her ambition isn't the Senate, never was. She want executive authority, and this is about as close as she can hope to get...for now.

Payback is about the only thing that makes sense to me for why Richardson would be kicked to the curb. I bet he's pissed at the Clinton's for cutting him out. That's gotta hurt.

Well - that's what I get for questioning Bob! More "evidence" here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/14/clinton-met-with-obama-ab_n_143810.html

QT

I don't like the sound of this at all. I didn't trust Hillary to handle foreign policy effectively as president, and don't trust her to do so as Sec'y of State. I DO want her to stay in the Senate and be effective there. Personally, I would like to see Colin Powell back in this position. Obviously he needs to redeem himself for the WMD fiasco. This would be an opportunity to do it. And I still think he is a person of overall integrity, capable of great things in an administration that is worthy of him.

The more I think about this one the more I'm convinced Bill had a hand in it. Think of it, Hillary's job will take her out of the country for a large percentage of time, and the rest of the time she'll be shuttling around Washington.

That leaves him a pretty wide open playing field...wink wink, nudge nudge! Say no more, you know what I mean?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT3_UCm1A5I