Something very odd is happening here. Barack Obama has apparently offered Hillary Clinton the post of Secretary of State. Why? The New York Observer offers up some speculation, which covers a lot of what I have thought of.
Since it was first reported last week that the two had met to discuss the possibility, there has been no shortage of theories in the press: He wants her out of the Senate and into a pliant administration post; he's paying her back for conceding graciously and then campaigning for him; he wants to score points with women voters.
But if you ask some of the most prominent members of the Democratic foreign policy establishment, the consensus about her appeal as a potential secretary of state is much simpler: She'll deliver.
Okay: Obama wants to keep Hillary in a position where he can control her and where he can keep an eye on her, and he thinks that she would be good at the job. Of course that carries a significant burden: Obama had to get a lot of concessions from Mr. Clinton (pre-clearance of speeches, for example), that amount to a lot of procedural bubble wrap around the Narcissist in Chief. Is she worth all that?
Maybe. Certainly, if she still wields the allegiance of a large part of the Democratic Party and Obama can assure its loyalty this way.
But here is the odd thing: Senator Clinton is very publicly having a hard time deciding. Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post psychoanalyzes the once and maybe future first woman president, and concludes that this is all calculation. She wants to make her acceptance look like a gift to President Obama, thus to reaffirm her clout.
Is it my imagination, or aren't these things usually worked out in advance? You don't let on that you have actually offered the job to someone unless they have already agreed privately to accept. Otherwise, you look like you don't know quite what you are doing, and you give the nominee a kind of power that subordinates shouldn't have.
One of the few joys of the recent election was the prospect that we were through with the Clintons. Obama doesn't seem to be able to deliver that.
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