US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, reflecting on her life in the public spotlight, said on Saturday she misses ordinary pleasures but has no regrets about her choice of public service.

“It’s very hard to go out shopping and just enjoy yourself out with your friends; it’s hard to go out to a restaurant and have just a meal with some people you want to talk to without being recognised,” she said during an interview on a popular women’s program on the Turkish channel, NTV.

The former First Lady even answered questions about her marriage to Bill Clinton and the scandal of the Monica Lewinsky affair that overshadowed his presidency in the late 1990s.

When asked if it was love or friendship which enabled her to get past her husband’s adultery, she answered smiling:

“Oh, love! And forgiveness, and friendship, and family.”

“You know, family, faith, friends are the core of my life and I don’t know anybody whose life is smooth sailing. If you meet such a person, I want to know them, because I’ve lived a long time and I have yet to meet that person.”

She added:

“I sacrificed a lot of my privacy, which I regret, I wish I did not have to.”

After leaving the White House, she was elected US senator from the state of New York and last year lost her bid for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination to Barack Obama.

She admits it is the ordinary things of life she misses.

“I like sitting in sidewalk cafes and coffee shops and watching people. That’s impossible for me now. I enjoy shopping and I am not actually able to shop…. So it’s the little daily activities and pleasures that you may not be able to enjoy quite as much.”

Still, she added she had no regrets about her career choice.

“But there are a lot of benefits because I do feel that I can help people…. So I lose something but I gain something. That’s kind of life, you know. You can’t have everything, you have to make some choices, and I am very excited that I get a chance to serve my country in working with President Obama.”

Technorati Tags: bill clinton, hillary clinton, Monica Lewinsky

With his first month as President in the bag, Barack Obama is receiving an unparalleled level of support from the American public in regards to his ability to handle, and in this case fix, the shattered economy. In fact President Obama has the largest lead over opposition party in overall trust to handle the economy as any U.S. President has had in over 20 years.

Even sky high approval ratings, President Barack Obama still has some undeniable challenges in front of him in regards to the post-partisanship government he spoke of so often throughout his long and hard fought presidential campaign. Nonetheless Obama clearly holds the upper hand, both in overall approval and on the dominant issue of the day. He leads the Republicans in Congress by 61-26 percent in trust to handle the economy, the biggest such lead for a president in ABC News/Washington Post polls since 1991.

Obama’s overall approval ratings are definitely strong, in both the literal and historical sense, currently hovering at 68 percent of Americans approving of the job he has done so far. However when you look closely at the polls internal findings you will find that the partisanship is as glaring as ever with 90 percent of Democrats approving of Obama’s performance thus far, and only 37 percent of Republicans happy with the newly elected President. This sharp party line divide among American’s is nearly identical to the numbers that accompanied George W. Bush in his first term which was hot off the heels of the controversial 2000 election and its subsequent outcome.

As mentioned above, the partisanship divide is as clear cut as ever before, but with that said it also becomes important to point out that many American’s are giving the President credit for his attempts at bringing the two sides together. More or less, a healthy majority of American’s recognize that while it may not be working yet, Barack Obama is undoubtedly attempting to forge a healthy middle ground between the Democrats and Republicans:

While President Barack Obama cannot be happy with the ultra-partisanship we are currently seeing, regardless if he is being recognized for trying to bring the two political factions together, it begs the question; how bad is this split for Republicans? According to the same ABC News/Washington Post poll — the hyper partisanship appears to be a bigger downfall for the Republicans, whose party remains on life support after what the majority of Americans fee was a disastrous Bush presidency. Below are the numbers – and it won’t take long until you see that if anyone is hurting from the inability to work together, it is the elected officials of the right:

• The Democratic Party leads the Republicans by 56-30 percent in trust to handle the country’s main problems. That has slightly improved from 56-23 percent in December, as congressional Republicans found a unified voice in opposition to the stimulus. But the December number was the Republicans’ worst in ABC/Post polls since 1982; they still have far to climb.
• Fifty percent of Americans approve of the way the Democrats in Congress are doing their jobs, while 44 percent disapprove – if hardly a barn-burner, still the Democrats’ best in two years, since April 2007, just after they regained control of Congress. And their Republican counterparts are a good deal weaker: 38 percent approve, 56 percent disapprove. (Democratic gains have come mainly in two groups: among Democrats themselves, and among liberals. Seventy-seven percent of Democrats now approve of their own party; just 55 percent of Republicans feel the same about theirs.)
• The Democrats are holding the edge in partisan affiliation they’ve built since 2004, when the public soured on the Iraq war and the Bush presidency in turn. Thirty-six percent in this poll identify themselves as Democrats, just 24 percent as Republicans. On average in 2003, by contrast, the parties were at parity, 31 percent apiece.

I have also attached a graph that pretty much reinforces the bumbers cited above — You will see just how much the public’s trust level in terms of the economy has dropped off for Republicans starting back in 2005 and plummeting at a fairly steady rate ever since:

Some constants have remained throughout this first month. For instance,young people still support Barack Obama at an unprecedented rate. Among young adults, or as they are being referred to nowadays, “Millennials” (those between the age of 18 and 30) his overall approval rating peaks at a startling 84 percent, compared with 59 percent in his weakest age group, seniors (this was a trend we saw throughout the primaries and general election as well.) There are income gaps here as well; among people with incomes less than $50,000, 66 percent approve of Obama’s handling of the economy; among those in $100,000+ households, this drops to half. Two possible reasons: Better-off Americans are more apt to be Republicans. And they’re in Obama’s cross hairs on taxes — and their awareness of it.

If you are interested in seeing the entire ABC/Washington Post poll regarding Obama’s first month in office you can do so by clicking here. It is really quite interesting and unfortunately, familiar to what we have seen throughout the past couple of years. The main difference  is that now it’s Republican’s who are in the doghouse, and many would say it’s rightfully so.

Technorati Tags: barack obama, Breaking news, Breaking political news, Breaking Politics News, Democrats, george w. bush, GOP, latest Polls, Latest Presidential Polls, Obama

Despite the daunting challenges she faces as the new US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton poked fun at herself and her husband Bill Clinton during her swearing-in.

“I’m so grateful to him for a lifetime of all kinds of experiences,” said Clinton, pausing in the middle of her phrase before finishing it on a harder tone at an elite ceremony in the State Department.

Her joke drew hearty laughter from a group of diplomats, politicians and a leading comedian as well as her mother, daughter Chelsea and the ex-president, his ruddy cheeks and white hair a match with his red-and-white-striped tie.

On a more serious note, Clinton also thanked her husband for a life of

“extraordinary richness that I am absolutely beholden to and grateful for.”

Clinton’s presidency from 1993 to 2001 was marked by dramatic ups and downs, including his affair with the young intern Monica Lewinsky.

In a soul-baring interview during the presidential campaign more than a year ago, Clinton said she never doubted her husband’s love for her, despite the former president’s infidelity.

Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden, who along with President Barack Obama were all fierce rivals for the Democratic party’s nomination for president, wondered aloud how they all ended up on the same team.

“As Joe laughingly referenced, neither one of us thought that we would be standing here together, doing what we are now doing together,” she said, standing near Biden who administered the oath over a bible held by Bill Clinton.

“Life has a funny way of unfolding and politics is even stranger,” the chief US diplomat said.

“So we are joined in this incredible mission on behalf of our president and our country,” she added in a ceremony that followed a small, private one held the day she was confirmed by the Senate on January 21.

Clinton also struck a light note when she addressed the senators in the ornate Benjamin Franklin Room who are in charge of appropriating funds for government agencies like the State Department.

“And I look forward to working with all of you, particularly the appropriators,” said Clinton, triggering laughter.

Clinton’s predecessors Henry Kissinger, James Baker, Lawrence Eagleburger, and Madeleine Albright all attended what amounted to a relaxed event where children mingled with the elite who held a glass of wine or a cocktail.

In the runup to the ceremony, Baker, who worked for president George H W Bush, spied Kissinger, the proverbial wiseman who has been doling out advice on foreign affairs ever since serving president Richard Nixon in the 1970s.

“Henry, Henry, Henry!” Baker called loudly before walking briskly over to the octogenarian and putting an arm around his shoulder to chat.

Baker had just left the side of Chevy Chase, a television and film comedian who has a following in the United States and overseas.

When the announcement came that the swearing-in ceremony would start, the tall, bespectacled grey-haired actor who starred in National Lampoon’s “Vacation” films raised his mobile phone and pretended to be speaking to Obama.

Chevy Chase said:

“I’m sorry, Mr President, I have to turn it off,”

AFP

Technorati Tags: barack obama, bill clinton, hillary clinton, President, Secretary of State

Approaching the November 4 US presidential election, Joe Biden confided that America’s enemies would quickly test an elected Barack Obama.
“Mark my words,”

Obama’s running mate warned all too presciently,

“it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy.”

“Watch. We’re going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”

Almost on cue, terrorists last week snuck into Mumbai and temporarily crippled India’s largest city, targeting Americans, Israelis and Britons. One consequence is the heightened focus on the quality of Obama’s national security team, particularly his choice of secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Announcing her appointment this week, Obama gave Clinton a “to do” list that was a depressing reminder of Bush administration failures on the global stage:

• Two unfinished wars, old conflicts such as the Middle East no closer to resolution
• Newly assertive powers such as Iran putting pressure on the system

• Proliferation of nuclear bombs.

The president-elect then introduced Clinton as a tough campaign opponent of “extraordinary intelligence” and “a remarkable work ethic“. She will need both.

Steve Clemons, a director at the New America Foundation, says:

“Clinton will be playing on a three-level chess board. There’s the international economic crisis which will have foreign policy ramifications; there’s the 21st century issues of global justice such as refugees, poverty and genocide; and there’s the big strategic threats – the US has to have some new strategic plan other than walling itself off from those nations it doesn’t like or using its military power.”

Clemons says the former first lady’s first task will be in getting a

“quick makeover, to show she can work at multiple levels and that she can work in shades of grey”.

In campaign combat for the Democratic nomination, Obama and Clinton offered headline-grabbing policies short on detail. Clinton was particularly strident, threatening to “totally obliterate” Iran if it used nuclear weapons against Israel.
She was admonished by Obama:

“It’s important that we use language that sends a signal to the world community that we’re shifting from the sort of cowboy diplomacy, or lack of diplomacy, that we’ve seen out of George Bush. And this kind of language is not helpful.”

He now has faith that Clinton has the deftness necessary for America’s second most important job.
Her first challenge will be making sure the immediate does not overwhelm the important.
Until Mumbai, her talks with India and Pakistan probably would have been dominated by issues of Islamic extremism, the hunt for Osama bin Laden in the tribal regions on the border with Afghanistan, aid aimed at winning over the next generation of potential jihadists, and nuclear non-proliferation.

“sent tremors down the San Andreas fault of the region by inflaming relations between two nuclear-armed countries”

“This is going to take up a lot of Condi’s [current secretary of state Condoleeza Rice's] time and the new administration’s time.” And it won’t end there. “Different terrorist groups will be contriving challenges.” Even allies such as Israel might seek to test Obama. “These things do not travel in straight lines,” Clemons says.

“The challenge will be trying to achieve longer term outcomes instead of being caught being reactive to every situation.”

Iraq and Afghanistan:

The new team’s first and largest challenge will be the exit from Iraq and the adequate resourcing of Afghanistan – Obama’s “central front in the war on terrorism”. Their effectiveness is likely to be measured by success in Afghanistan, and experts argue that could be more elusive than in Iraq. “Afghanistan may be the ‘good war’, but it is also the harder war,” David Kilcullen, a former Australian army officer who until recently was Rice’s senior adviser on counterinsurgency issues, told The New York Times this week.

Most military experts warn that suppressing violence in Afghanistan – which had more insurgent attacks than Iraq between August and October – will not be as straightforward as it was in Iraq. The Afghan insurgency is rural, not concentrated in cities as in Iraq; the terrain is forbidding, tribal loyalties dispersed, warlords rich from narcotics and the Taliban and al-Qaeda receive relatively easy sanction in neighbouring Pakistan.

The Afghan army is tiny compared to population, Afghan police are ineffectual and there is little history of effective central government. In Iraq, centralised government was the norm. Building up a local force to step in when US and NATO forces have secured an area is therefore much more difficult.

Hamid Karzai’s weak government faces an election next year, making it difficult to replicate the “bottom up” strategy in Iraq, where tribal leaders were convinced to put down their arms and work with government, often in exchange for payments. In Afghanistan they wait for the government to fall.

Much of the responsibility for the redeployment of resources will fall to the Defence secretary Robert Gates but inevitably Clinton will be deeply involved, particularly in managing the relationship with Pakistan. She must extract greater Pakistani cooperation in removing terrorists’ safe havens or confront an even more difficult relationship should Obama make good his threat of unilateral action on Pakistani soil. Rising tension between India and Pakistan complicates the picture.

Middle East and Iran:

The Bush administration’s preoccupation with Iraq distracted it from the much larger problems of the Middle East, which have festered over the past eight years and become more complex thanks to Iran’s push for nuclear weapons. The Brookings Institute’s Martin Indyk says Obama must reprioritise and reorient US policy toward the Middle East: “For the past six years that policy has been dominated by Iraq. This need not, and should not be the case.”

Indyk says the priority should be curtailing Iran’s nuclear program and promoting peace between Israel, its Arab neighbours and Iran.

Others question whether US containment of Iran will work. Scholars such as Vali Nasr from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy argue the solution lies in a far more sophisticated understanding of the Arab stakeholders, and their inclusion in an American-sponsored regional security structure. Others talk of the need for a “grand bargain”, where the various causes of Middle East friction – disputed territory between Israel and Palestine, issues with Lebanon and Syria, a nuclear Iran, relations with Hezbollah and Hammas – are all on the table.

Restarting a serious effort toward Middle East peace is almost certain to fall mostly to Clinton, although the National Security Adviser, the former NATO commander General Jim Jones, is also likely to play an important role.

Clinton must judge how and at what level she engages with Iran, as Obama says he wants to do. The near-success in the six-party talks with North Korea have given the idea of diplomatic engagement with Iran more street cred. But it demands a rethink in how to deal with Iran, which could unnerve Israel. The North Korea talks made progress because threats of further sanctions and military intervention were matched with serious offers of assistance for the beleaguered nation including delisting of its American-imposed status as an “axis of evil” state. Iran may need more credible carrots and sticks, too.

Russian relations:

Nuclear proliferation:

An early issue for negotiation with the Russians, it was cited frequently by Obama as an area of priority.

The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty deals with weapons reduction by the two former nuclear superpowers and is due to expire in a year. Without renewal, the regime of verification goes out the window, says Matthew Bunn, of the Kennedy school of government at Harvard. “The issue for the incoming administration is whether to extend the treaty for a year, or try and push through a really good follow-on treaty. That, of course, is inextricably linked to the missile defence issue.”

Broader non-proliferation issues have gathered urgency as a result of Bush’s intrangience on treaty issues: the nuclear non-proliferation treaty expires in 2010 and is in desperate need of overhaul. Much work is to be done on securing nuclear materials around the world and Iran’s and North Korea’s nuclear ambitions remain.

Poverty, refugees and Darfur:

Obama spent the past year promising to tackle the tragedy in Darfur and direct American moral authority against poverty, AIDS and genocide. Invariably, these pledges drew huge cheers from supporters who saw his emphasis on these big picture issues as one of the main reasons for preferring him over Clinton.

Now, delivering on the promise falls to Clinton and Susan Rice – Obama’s nominee as UN Ambassador, and a former undersecretary on African affairs at the US State Department.

The stakes are high for this security team – politically as well as the risks each area of tension could unleash. Obama has raised expectations of his ability to put America on a different course; now he must deliver.

Clemons suggests he will be better off if his national security team operates outside the limelight. “They need to manufacture Nixon goes to China-type moments for Obama,” he says.

But can that really be Hillary Rodham Clinton’s modus operandi? We shall find out soon enough.

China:

China demands American attention for other reasons, not least American financial dependence on Chinese borrowings to help it through the financial crisis. How America engages with China on regulation of international financing and climate change will help set the tone of the future relationship, as will Clinton’s and Obama’s handling of it.

“The US cannot thwart China’s rise,”

John Ikenberry, professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University, says.

“But it can help ensure that China’s power is exercised within the rules and institutions that the United States and its partners have crafted over the last century.”

But it takes two to tango and Putin’s Russia, enriched by booming oil revenues, is flexing its muscles again.

Technorati Tags: Afghanistan, China, darfur, hillary clinton, iran, Midlle East, mumbai, Nuclear Proliferation, Russia

President-elect Barack Obama says he will welcome strong opinions and differing viewpoints from his national security team, saying he appointed his “team of rivals” because they shared his broad vision, but would not necessarily agree on tactics or strategies to deal with world issues.

Announcing his team in Chicago, Mr Obama confirmed the worst held secret in America: that his former rival for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton, would be his secretary of state.

Robert Gates, a George W Bush appointment, has agreed to stay on as defence secretary, and General Jim Jones will be national security adviser.

Three other appointments were confirmed as well: Mr Obama’s closest foreign affairs adviser, Dr Susan Rice, becomes UN Ambassador with a seat at the cabinet table; Eric Holder becomes Attorney-General; and the governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano, becomes secretary of Homeland Security.

“I am a strong believer in strong opinions and strong people,” Mr Obama said. “I will be welcoming vigorous debate in the White House,” he said, adding that the biggest risk, judging by history, was the tendency towards “group think” in an administration.

The heavily experienced team will give Mr Obama more leeway to concentrate on the economy while also dealing with multiple challenges on the international stage.

He said:

“The national security challenges we face are just as grave – and just as urgent – as our economic crisis. We are fighting two wars. Old conflicts remain unresolved, and newly assertive powers have put strains on the international system. The spread of nuclear weapons raises the peril that the world’s deadliest technology could fall into dangerous hands. Our dependence on foreign oil empowers authoritarian governments and endangers our planet,”

“The common thread linking these challenges is the fundamental reality that in the 21st century, our destiny is shared with the world’s,”

Unlike his economic team, which did not speak at their press conference, each of the new national security team said a few brief words as an acknowledgment perhaps of the high profile that many of them already enjoy in the public arena.

Mrs Clinton responded by invoking a blessing: “May God bless you and all who serve with you,” she said.

She promised to be a “force for positive change” and to pursue “vigorous diplomacy“, in her new role as America’s most senior diplomat.

Mr Obama was repeatedly asked whether India had the right to go into Pakistani territory to capture those responsible for the terrorist attacks in Mumbai last week.

During the campaign, Mr Obama asserted that under his leadership he would not hesitate to send American forces into Pakistani territory if there was reliable intelligence that Osama Bin Laden was there.

But on this issue, Mr Obama did not venture an opinion, invoking the “one president at a time rule” twice during the 45 minute press conference.
He said:

“Sovereign nations have a right to protect themselves,”

“My administration will be steadfast in its support of India’s efforts to catch the perpetrators of this attack,”

Technorati Tags: barack obama, hillary clinton, politics, Secretary of State

In recognition that the first year of his presidency will be dominated by trying to stabilize the domestic economy, Barack Obama has assembled a heavy-hitting and highly experienced national security team – including his former rival for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton.

The president-elect was expected to hold a press conference in Chicago early today to unveil his national security team.

The decision to appoint Senator Clinton to the top foreign affairs job, to continue with Robert Gates as defence secretary and to place General James Jones, the former head of NATO forces in Europe, shows that Mr Obama has put experience and strong opinions ahead of rewarding those who were seen as part of his inner circle.

While there have been some qualms from liberal commentators, who fear this line-up of seasoned advisers will dissuade Mr Obama from a swift end to the war in Iraq, the much stronger sentiment is for support.

Bob Woodward, author and journalist, who has chronicled the Bush Administration’s handling of the Iraq war, described the team as “amazing” and likened it to Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

“You’ve got too cool – or at least appropriately cool – General Jones; Gates is kind of just right, in the middle; and Hillary Clinton, hot,”

The line-up will ensure that Mr Obama is freed from having to keep an eye on detailed implementation, although he will need to ensure that he sets a clear tone for his administration, particularly when it comes to issues on which he campaigned: withdrawal from Iraq, attitudes to torture and incarceration of war prisoners and using international negotiation rather than unilateral approaches, which characterized the first term of the Bush Administration.

Mr Obama says he wants to lead an administration in which strong-willed senior officials are ready to debate forcefully for differing points of view.

Some American supporters of Israel have been buzzing over the potential for conflict between Senator Clinton and General Jones on the Arab-Israeli issues.

General Jones was appointed as a Bush administration envoy charged with trying to improve the often dysfunctional Palestinian security forces.

As part of that assignment, he drafted a report that caused a stir in Israel by criticizing the Israel Defence Forces’ activities in the Palestinian territories.

The only appointment that is truly from his inner circle is Dr Susan Rice, who was one of his senior foreign affairs advisers from the outset of the campaign. She is expected to be made ambassador to the UN.

The appointments face a nomination process before the Senate, which in Senator Clinton’s case could be testing.

While Bill Clinton has agreed to restrictions on his foreign work so his wife can become the nation’s highest diplomat, there are “probably legitimate questions” that remain, Senator Richard Lugar said.

Technorati Tags: barack obama, politics, President-elect, security team

Barack Obama is set to formally nominate his ex-rival, Hillary Clinton, as secretary of state and roll out the national security team he will charge with defusing multiple foreign crises.

The president-elect is also expected on Monday to publicly say he has asked President George W Bush’s defence secretary, Robert Gates, to stay on at the Pentagon and to name former marine general James Jones as his national security adviser.

Obama’s formal roll-out of Clinton at a press conference in Chicago nearly a month after his historic election triumph will cement a remarkable alliance following the pair’s acrimonious Democratic primary duel this year.

“I can confirm that she will be in Chicago tomorrow to be named secretary of state,” a person close to the former first lady and New York senator told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Obama and vice president-elect Joseph Biden will name the team just days after the Mumbai terror assaults landed them with a fresh South Asia crisis to add to the plethora of US national security challenges.

As well as Gates and Jones, sources said Obama will complete the top layers of his national security team with Arizona governor Janet Napolitano as Homeland Security chief.

Pending Senate confirmation, long-time Obama foreign policy aide Susan Rice is also set to be formally named US ambassador to the United Nations while retired admiral Dennis Blair is set to be Director of National Intelligence.

Former president Bill Clinton cleared the way for the announcement of his wife as the face of US foreign policy abroad by reaching an agreement on his financial arrangements and future role on the world stage, removing the appearance of conflicts of interest between her husband’s charitable foundation and lucrative speechmaking schedule and US foreign policy.

He has also agreed to submit future engagements, speeches and sources of income to the State Department and the White House and to take a more behind-the-scenes role in the daily running of his foundation, sources said.

The Obama transition team said the national security team would be introduced in a press conference at a downtown Chicago hotel on Monday at 9.40am (0240 AEDT Tuesday).

Naming Gates, who is respected across the political aisle in Washington for his performance since taking over from Donald Rumsfeld two years ago would allow Obama to honour his pledge to name at least one Republican cabinet member.

Jones, a former NATO commander, is also respected on Capitol Hill and may be particularly sought by Obama for his expertise on the Afghan war, which the president-elect has vowed to make a top priority.

On Tuesday, the president-elect is set to discuss the fiscal crisis ravaging US state governments, with a meeting of governors in Philadelphia.

AFP

Technorati Tags: barack obama, hillary clinton, politics, Secretary of State

Barack Obama promised change, galvanizing many younger voters who believed America could become a fairer country and end its involvement in Iraq.

As a presidential candidate, Obama had promised a new vision of politics.  A politics not divided along partisan lines, that would break with the old Washington ways where access to decision makers was corrupted by donations, lobbyists and a culture of insiders.

But so far he has turned mainly to people with reputations as practitioners of tough, pragmatic politics, and long Washington histories.

Over the past six months, America has gone from prosperous, if troubled, to an economy on the brink. A nimble, smoothly functioning administration must take priority over experiments in open governance.

Obama unveiled his economic team this week.

He chose Tim Geithner, the chairman of the Federal Reserve’s New York branch, as treasury secretary.  Some Democrats have already claimed that Geithner was part of the regulatory structure that led to the Wall Street collapse.

But he is also waist-deep in the $700 billion rescue plan, giving him a seamless entry into the job.

Larry Summers, a Harvard economist and treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, will be chief economic adviser in the White House. Summers is known for his flair and brilliance as an economist, not his management skills.

Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, served as a Clinton advisor, and knows both how to construct a White House office and that this is no time for experiments.    Obama once joked during a charity roast of his friend that Emanuel, a former ballet dancer, is more likely to perform Machiavelli’s The Prince than Giselle.

Obama has chosen more diplomatic figures to balance Emanuel.

Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader and Obama’s choice for health secretary, is a skilled and well-liked former member of Congress. David Axelrod, to be this administration’s Karl Rove equivalent, can serve as a tempering force. He was responsible for crafting Obama’s campaign message and, by the standards of past campaigns, kept it away from the low road.

Appointing Hillary Clinton secretary of state is, however, the most disappointing for some Obama supporters. They recall the fierce early debates over withdrawal of troops in Iraq, the issue prompting them to turn up and make phone calls for a relative unknown.

Washington Post columnist, David Ignatius wrote:

“Clinton is immensely talented but it could be the wrong job for her, since it has the potential to undermine Obama’s own transformational role in foreign policy – perhaps the greatest opportunity he has. Why subcontract this to Clinton and her entourage?”

Sadly for Obama, he will probably not have time to deal with issues such as the Middle East in the way he might have liked to in his first year. He needs someone who can command immediate respect on the world stage and represent America’s interests with flair.

But think back to the campaign. Clinton proved herself the ultimate team player during the final months. No one could fault her endorsement speech at the Democratic convention. Then she took to the road and did more than 60 rallies.

Obama and Clinton may prove more alike than different: tough, determined, methodical. Obama needs a secretary of state who will consult and listen, and can lead, once the direction is set. And Clinton is that sort of person.

Obama’s task now is to manage his team of rivals and drive the agenda towards braver policies than his pragmatic, Washington-savvy team might want.

Putting in seasoned people at this time is the only responsible choice.

Technorati Tags: barack obama, hillary clinton, Larry Summers, Timothy Geithner

A remarkable political union between two once bitter rivals looks set to be cemented after Hillary Clinton appeared ready to accept Barack Obama’s offer to be secretary of state.

The former first lady sent clear signals yesterday that she had decided to give up her Senate seat to become the face of US diplomacy abroad, The New York Times reported.

“She’s ready,” the newspaper quoted an unnamed Clinton confidant as saying, adding that she had made her decision after follow-up consultations with Mr Obama on his vision for foreign policy.

Obama aides said there were no plans for a formal announcement until after the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. Senator Clinton would be the third female secretary of state, after Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice.

Senator Clinton’s aides would not confirm the New York Times report, but pointedly did not deny it.

“We’re still in discussions, which are very much on track,” senior adviser Philippe Reines said. “Any reports beyond that are premature.”

The nomination moved on after financial disclosures were worked out with Senator Clinton’s husband, the former president Bill Clinton.

Some analysts had expressed fears that the former US leader’s myriad business interests abroad and donor lists to his charitable foundation could pose a conflict of interest if his wife became secretary of state.

Mr Clinton reportedly offered to submit names of donors to his global charity to an ethical review.

NBC News has reported that Mr Obama is set to appoint New York Federal Reserve chief Timothy Geithner as his treasury secretary amid the deepening economic crisis. The news caused share prices to rise on Wall Street.

Mr Geithner, 47, has been on the front lines of the US central bank’s battle to shore up the markets.

Mr Obama’s transition office did not comment on the NBC report.

More speculation about the president-elect’s emerging cabinet on Friday surrounded James Jones, a former four-star general and NATO’s former supreme commander in Europe.

ABC News said he was a top candidate to become the national security adviser. General Jones may be sought by Mr Obama for his expertise on the war in Afghanistan.

The prospect of Senator Clinton as secretary of state has been welcomed across the political spectrum. But some commentators have wondered whether uniting two such bold political egos could be destructive and foster political infighting.

Technorati Tags: barack obama, hillary clinton, Secretary of State

The former US president Bill Clinton may have to cease some of his activities for his wife, Hillary, to become the nation’s top diplomat.

“There is a lot of momentum in the direction of this happening,”

said James Carville, a friend of the Clintons.

Mr Carville said the former president’s work – past and future – was a complicating matter.  “She’s not married to Todd Palin,” he said, referring to the husband of the Republican vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin.

Barack Obama’s transitional campaign office has confirmed it is vetting Mr Clinton’s business affairs, a sign that Senator Clinton is being considered for the job and, equally, that she is interested in taking it.

As part of that process Mr Clinton might have to disclose the names of contributors to the Clinton Global Fund, which funded his presidential library and work to combat AIDS around the world. The donor list has never been made public, but Mr Clinton had promised to disclose it if Senator Clinton became president.

Since leaving office eight years ago Mr Clinton has reportedly raised more than $US500 million for the foundation, tapping foreign governments and reportedly soliciting funds from international business figures whom he helped introduce to less savoury leaders around the world, such as the president of Kazakhstan, who granted uranium mining rights to one of Mr Clinton’s associates soon after meeting Mr Clinton.

But the more pressing issues will be Mr Clinton’s other activities. For instance, would he be required to give up making speeches, to avoid the risk of contradicting his wife and US policy? Could he continue his AIDS and climate change work while avoiding potential conflicts with the Obama government?

“She really has to sit down with her husband and work through: where does this leave him,”

said David Gergen, a political analyst for CNN who worked at the White House during the Clinton period.

“After all, he’s very deeply involved in the Clinton Global Initiative, doing good around the world. Could he continue to do that?”

Mr Obama met his former rival in the presidential race, John McCain, in what appeared a cordial meeting. They issued a statement saying:

“At this defining moment in history, we believe that Americans of all parties want and need their leaders to come together and change the bad habits of Washington so that we can solve the common and urgent challenges of our time.”

They said they would work together to eliminate waste and restore trust in government.

A friend of Senator McCain, the independent senator Joe Lieberman, a former Democrat who still attends the party’s caucus, appears to have hung on to his Senate chairmanship of the homeland security committee, despite a strong push within the party to discipline him for backing Senator McCain and publicly criticising Senator Obama.

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