Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton

Just an observation about Hillary. I wonder how Obama's supporters feel about him potentially tapping her (sorry for the mental image there) for Secretary of State. Bear in mind many of Obama's supporters flocked to him over her due to her centrist posture during the primaries, and especially for her support for the Iraq War and the War On Terror.

Now I'm sure they would be fine if Obama appointed her as Secretary of Education, or maybe even Health and Human Services-but Secretary of State, filled by someone they see as a war monger? That's got to bite, probably even more than if he appointed her Secretary of Defense or National Security Adviser.

I'm going to take a wait and see attitude. I always had this mental image of Hillary Clinton as an American liberal version of Margaret Thatcher. I always thought that if she became President, she would do with Iran what Nixon did with China. Maybe she will still do so in this capacity-as the Democratic Henry Kissinger.

Mainly, though, I wanted to point out the sheer grasp of this appointment, assuming it goes through. Back in the early days of the Republic, when a President appointed someone as Secretary of State, that was almost seen as an anointing of the next presidential successor. That kind of went by the wayside after Buchanan's horrible term in office. It was after him and Lincoln that people started to look toward the state Governors. If you were a successful Governor, you had a decent shot provided you could get the support of the party bosses. If you also happened to have a distinguished military career, so much the better.

Hillary has neither going for her, and her stint as a Senator is not likely to win her more support. Obama's rise to the Presidency by way of the US Senate is a rarity. Senators usually don't connect with the people sufficiently to win the office. There is probably nothing Hillary could possibly do in the Senate that would enable her to follow Obama's success.

However, if she were to have a stellar career as Secretary of State, in a fairly successful Obama Presidency-or even if she is one of the very few bright spots therein-it could add immeasurably to her influence and popularity.

People have wondered what the trade-off was for Hillary's support of Obama. I think we might be seeing it here. Don't be surprised also if Biden doesn't decline to run for re-election as VP in 2012, providing Obama's presidency is seen as fairly successful and popular. Hillary would then be the obvious choice to replace him on the Democratic ticket.

If Obama's presidency is a disaster, however, it will be a different story. Biden will stick around. After all, who else would want to replace him? Would Hillary remove herself from the failed Administration under this scenario? Hard to say. It would be difficult for her to attack the Administration and risk splitting the party and expect to win in 2016. It doesn't seem feasible that she would run for Governor of New York at that point with an eye toward running for President before her first term of office was up. She could think of other ways to stay at the forefront, as an activist chairwoman for some cause or another.

I said I would take a wait and see approach, but actually, I think Hillary will probably do the job well, even if the Obama Administration in general is a disaster. Let me restate that. She will do what most Americans these days consider a good job. I think she will try to pursue America's interests to the best of her ability, at least. She has every reason in the world to do so.

Hillary Clinton still wants to be President. She is one determined creature.