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Pros and cons of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Posted on Nov 24, 2008 in Opinion

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Surely everyone knows by now that President-elect Obama has been speaking with Sen. Hillary Clinton about the position of Secretary of State in the Obama cabinet. By the time you read this a decision may have been made, but assuming that isn’t the case let’s examine the pros and cons of this idea.

The Pros
A large portion of the voters in this country thought Clinton was qualified to be president, so the support is definitely there. She has been in the White House before as first lady and knows a little about how things are run in the Oval Office, thanks to her husband Bill, who most people think was a pretty good president — he left office with a 60% approval rating, which is double what George Bush has at the moment.

She has foreign policy experience and commands respect both in Washington and throughout the world. Her plans for health care and education reform are similar to Obama’s, and she could help him implement such changes more quickly if working from within the White House. Depending on whom you ask, this could help her in any future bids for the presidency of the United States.

The Cons
Having Clinton in an Obama administration may awaken some sore feeling some of the country may have from the last time a Clinton was in office.

As someone who has been in Washington for a long time, she could undermine Obama’s message of change.
Again depending on whose opinion you are hearing, it could cripple her chances of running for president again in the future (this may not be a con for everybody).

Some fear that Obama has already appointed too many members of the former Clinton administration and that this will solidify an Obama presidency as Clinton 3.0 instead of the new politics of hope and change that was promised on the campaign trail.

Obama has already said that Clinton was on his shortlist for vice president and has mentioned many, many times how much he admires and respects the Clintons and has called Clinton a “valuable asset” on more than one occasion. It remains to be seen just how important she will be in the coming years.