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Hillary for State

Hillary Clinton was the biggest threat to Barack Obama’s presidential ambitions, so much so that defeating John McCain on November 4 seemed secondary to having his nose in front of her in the Democratic nomination. Had Ms Clinton been nominated — she had the support of an 18-million strong constituency — she would almost certainly have defeated Mr. McCain. So President-elect Obama’s choice of Senator Clinton as his Secretary of State is a politicall y bold and interesting step. Liberals might interpret this to mean that Mr. Obama, who won on a liberal platform promising far-going change, is opportunistically veering to the centre. Others might see in this an indication that the 44th President of the United States will deliver on his promise to restore diplomacy to its due place in the scheme of things. The eight years of the George W. Bush presidency saw unilateralism and militarism prevail over the wishes of the international community, with calamitous results. At the very least, the strong-minded Ms Clinton is politically and intellectually equipped to restore the State Department’s status in the administrative scheme, perhaps even establish its primacy over the Pentagon and other arms of the security apparatus. Interestingly, in addition to her international contacts, the former First Lady is conversant with military affairs since she served actively on the Senate Armed Services Committee. There is a view, especially among liberals, that Ms Clinton might not play with the team. But the differences between the two ex-rivals on foreign policy issues — the main difference seems to be that he opposed the Iraq war from the start but has no clear exit strategy whereas she supported the war initially but moved to his kind of opposition to it — are hardly fundamental in nature. The scope for friction seems to have been further reduced after Bill Clinton moved to erase potential conflict of interest issues.

Ms Clinton will be aware that the President-elect — whose favourite book along with the Bible is Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals, a biography of Abraham Lincoln with a message — has been generous in offering her a high profile role on the world stage. The junior Senator from New York could not aspire to the leadership of any of the Senate’s important committees. As such, she would not have been in a position to make a mark on health care or any other domestic issue likely to rank high on the legislative agenda during a period of Democratic hegemony. Ms Clinton would also have noted Mr. Obama’s under-played yet clear statement that it is he who will set the vision and take the key decisions for his administration. The incoming Secretary of State will be a successful player so long as she resists any temptation to overstep the limits clearly laid down. And she needs to keep her husband in check.

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