Guardian: Hillary accepts Obama offer to head Foggy Bottom

[Israel Insider]

Hillary Clinton has decided to accept president-elect Barack Obama's offer to serve as his secretary of state, the British daily The Guardian reported Tuesday.

Clinton, Obama's chief rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, was rumored to be a contender for the job last week after meeting with the President-Elect.

Speculation grew in Washington and elsewhere Thursday, however, after Obama named several former aides to former president Bill Clinton to help run his transition effort.

"Since being elected senator for New York," the Guardian reported, "she has specialised in foreign affairs and defence. Although she supported the war in Iraq, she and Obama basically agree on a withdrawal of American troops."

"Clinton, who still harbors hopes of a future presidential run, had to weigh up whether she would be better placed by staying in the Senate, which offers a platform for life, or making the more uncertain career move to the state department."

There has been no independent confirmation of the Guardian report, nor naming of its sources for the claim.

Clinton is general considered pro-Israel, and popular in the US Jewish community so strongly represented in her home state. She did attract criticism for her embrace of Suha Arafat after the latter made especially venomous anti-Israel remarks. Clinton later said she did not hear those remarks.

[RonaldH]

Obama is facing unprecedented (in my lifetime), difficult problems ahead of him: for the American people and the world. I did not vote for Obama, but I would like to see him be a successful president. Unfortunately, his early appointments do not provide encouragement. I don't know of a single instance when the winner of a primary campaign for president appointed his major opponent in the campaign to a cabinet post. This smacks of weakness on Obama's part and could set the stage for internal conflict and confusion over policy. I hope events in America go better than they are looking now, but I am worried they won't.

[RonaldH]

The latest news on Hillary as Secretary of State is that she probably will get the job. (That is what the media are saying. That does not mean I am in favor.) The potential problem I see with that is that if she decides to make the Israel/Palestinian conflict a priority, she may be able to apply extreme pressure on Netanyahu which will be difficult to resist. That in turn may induce Israel to take unwise risks that will make it easier for Arabs to murder Jews.

[HAL]

Hillary I believe will not take the job, She does not want to be the 2nd fiddle. She will wait till 2012 and run again. Obama is going into a terrible fiasco of bailouts, loans and personal trials...i.e. birth certificate problems. He is being propped up by most of the U.S. media and they have no honor anymore...

[Celeste]

I am furious that Obama can get away with lying in order to get elected and then suddenly and easily change his mind one week after the election. I did not vote for him, as I saw how he promised every group what they wanted to hear and it was obvious that he could not possibly keep all of his promises. This doesn't surprise me but remember that approx. 48% of Americans DID NOT vote for him, so don't be angry with all of us. I was also perplexed that 80% of American Jews voted for him...The Conservatives have always been for Israel.

[JMKC]

So far, Hillary has accepted nothing.
The offer was made by Obama, to Hillary and the other candidate.
Hillary's camp leaked the news to the media, which infuriated Obama.
Leaking served several purposes for Hillary.
Obama obtained the DNC nomination by crook.
www.puma08.com

Having passed over Hillary for VP, was a direct snub.
This next chessboard move will prove very interesting.

[Sharbano]

I doubt she would be much worse than the current Secretary Rice has been.