Obama's bold choice for his secretary of State shows the two can be partners on the world stage.

[wyldwolf]

In selecting his erstwhile opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton, to be secretary of State, Barack Obama has gone boldly where no recent president has gone before. Unlike the lawyers, academics and generals who have dominated the office since World War II, Clinton combines substance and essential qualities for the job with celebrity and a political constituency.

Both Clinton and Obama insist that, partly as a result of her tireless campaigning for him in the general election, they have made their peace and then some. It's also true that their foreign policy differences were exaggerated in the fun-house mirror of the primary campaign. Like Obama, Clinton is willing to engage this country's adversaries afresh, but without foreclosing military action when necessary to defend U.S. interests.

Not even her detractors would deny that Clinton is smart, well-versed in foreign and defense issues and single-minded in pursuing her goals. Her perseverance even after Obama seemed almost certain of victory augurs well for her ability to press for diplomatic breakthroughs -- in the Arab-Israeli conflict, for example -- when persistence seems futile. So too does her renown as a first lady turned senator turned diplomat.

A canny and charismatic secretary of State can be useful, however, only if allies and adversaries see her as the president's absolute alter ego. As James A. Baker III, President George H.W. Bush's secretary of State, observed, a foreign leader "can see daylight between a president and his secretary of State from a thousand miles away." Such gaps are less likely when the secretary isn't a political luminary. That may explain why the last politician of Clinton's stature to serve as secretary of State was James Byrnes (1945-1947), a former U.S. senator and Supreme Court justice who had angled for the Democratic vice presidential nomination in 1944. (Christian Herter, a former governor of Massachusetts, served under President Eisenhower.)

Although history suggests it is difficult for rivals to collaborate on foreign policy, Clinton may be particularly well-suited for the challenge. Her high profile could help energize U.S. foreign policy while her background as a lawyer serves her in tough negotiations. She has proved to be flexible and pragmatic, as has Obama. His appointment of Clinton, whatever its complexities, shows the president-elect's sense of confidence in her and in the administration they now will share.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-ed-clinton28-2008nov28,0,1298280.story

[JVS]

1. And the ungrounded hype campaign goes on

[sufrommich]

2. The LA Times underground?

It's an editorial. From a paper that endorsed Obama for president.

[JVS]

5. It's an editorial that depends an unverified assumption of who will be SoS

[dkf]

3. Wow. Now this is Hillary Clinton's shared administration.

Who knew?

[sufrommich]

6. You should probably read the article before jerking your knee. nt

[dkf]

7. I read the whole thing. That is a direct quote from the last sentence.

Maybe you should have read the article.

[sufrommich]

9. Is it the word "share" that triggers the paranoia?

His whole administration will "share" the experience of being in his administration. The editorial isn't about a co - presidency.

[dkf]

10. You added the word experience.

You are the one distorting the last sentence.

[sufrommich]

11. I added the word "experience" because I understood

the editorial.

[dkf]

12. Give me a break. This is obviously written by some huge Hillary

supporter who wants her in charge of foreign policy.

It portrays Obama as confident enough to have such a strong person sharing the administration. So if he doesn't pick her, he is weak right?

This article is presumptuous and rude and indicative of the problems Obama will have with her and her rabid supporters.

Obama deliberately did not confirm he had asked her to be SOS on ABC. This is yet another article egging him on into proving he can handle her. YUCK.

[sufrommich]

14. Is every opinion piece that doesn't skewer Hillary Clinton

or is in favor of her as SOS part of the vast Clinton conspiracy?:eyes:

[dkf]

16. No, but an article that portrays her as an equal to the President

is completely wrong and misleading.

She serves him. She is not his partner.

[madrchsod]

4. it`s not a partnership

she is to carry out obama`s policy. there is no "sharing"

[Grateful for Hope]

8. That is correct

Obama himself has made this clear.

[dkf]

13. This editorial writer doesn't seem to have gotten the message.

Maybe someone is whispering into his ear what Obama has supposedly promised Hillary.

[BeFree]

15. Not only that, but...

....Clinton as sos gives the department instant credibility around the world. The selection of Hillary is a very smart selection, if indeed it is true.

[happychatter]

17. Copresidency - Coalition... isn't this a creative piece?... New Definition of SoS...

FORGET that pesky Constitution...

yeah, AND those pesky, un-substantive, academics and generals...

Thank almighty God we have the LA Times to announce the new Coalition and praise Obama's judgment for redefining the role of Secretary of State by considering HRC

WE ALL KNOW SHE IS TOO BIG FOR THE CONVENTIONAL ROLE

We can re-write the job description, JUST FOR HER

[Fabio]

18. Please, enough, with the HRC advocacy.

We all hope she does a great job. But most of us consider her to not be the 1st, 2nd or 3rd most important democrat in the country.