Secretary of State Hillary Clinton?

[redskinjim]

we are so doomed i cant even begin to fathom what went wrong with bush everything he touched or did had the stench of corruption.Look at what he did to the economy the national debt the war how could anybody be so inept and dishonest.Now obama is the next president way to go george!

[70Chip]

I have to say again that I think Secretary of State is an outmoded job. It doesn't mean anything now. Real decisions are made in the basement of the White House with the NSC. The Secretary of State shakes hands and follows protocol and dodges bullets from a large workforce that thinks it still matters. If Hillary takes this job, she is resigning from puiblic life. Unless she has some grandiose plan to turn the aparatus back on Obama in a way that no one could expect.

That's interesting man. She could get in there and do an Iran deal that catches him short and totally rejuvenates the very position itself. I'd pay to see that. Maybe Russia. Maybe he's the one who should be careful. Bill has strong business ties with some of the breakaway Republics. Maybe she thinks she can be a Jefferson type figure. I have to say that my admiration for her has grown. He should be very careful. If she gets the job she may be beyond his control. She would be like a free agent. Everyone assumes she would have to follow his lead but if she went off the reservation the press would eat it up because it hasn't happened in so long. Very interesting.

[12thMan]

Originally Posted by 70Chip

I have to say again that I think Secretary of State is an outmoded job. It doesn't mean anything now. Real decisions are made in the basement of the White House with the NSC. The Secretary of State shakes hands and follows protocol and dodges bullets from a large workforce that thinks it still matters. If Hillary takes this job, she is resigning from puiblic life. Unless she has some grandiose plan to turn the aparatus back on Obama in a way that no one could expect.

That's interesting man. She could get in there and do an Iran deal that catches him short and totally rejuvenates the very position itself. I'd pay to see that. Maybe Russia. Maybe he's the one who should be careful. Bill has strong business ties with some of the breakaway Republics. Maybe she thinks she can be a Jefferson type figure. I have to say that my admiration for her has grown. He should be very careful. If she gets the job she may be beyond his control. She would be like a free agent. Everyone assumes she would have to follow his lead but if she went off the reservation the press would eat it up because it hasn't happened in so long. Very interesting.

So with all that's going on globally, you think Sec. of State is an "outmoded" job? Okay, I guess the same could be said of Vice President and a few other cabinet posts as well. Hell, why even have the position at all? Just appoint a team of ambassadors to be the face of diplomacy for the United States. Why not.

I think more than ever, this cabinet position is critical to how we deal with and negotiate foreign affairs. With two wars going on, Bin Laden still on the loose, and a host of other regimes forming, for the life of me I don't see how this is an irrelevant position. Not to mention that Obama will be utterly consumed with our domestic economy, he'll need someone who has the balls (sorry Hill) to wander off the ranch every now and then.

Actually, 70, I think you should fill out that 63 question application and apply for the position yourself.

[saden1]

Critical decisions and policy are ultimately made by the President (one would hope at least) much in the same way all critical business decisions in a company are made by its CEO. That doesn't mean the President or a CEO has no use for knowledgeable people whose brains he can pick and implement his vision.

A good manager informs his employees what the end result should be and leaves them alone. You want the secretary of state to be a competent and capable employee. Able to execute on their own with little guidance beyond what the end result should be.

No man is wise enough by himself.

-Titus Maccius Plautus

[70Chip]

Originally Posted by 12thMan

So with all that's going on globally, you think Sec. of State is an "outmoded" job? Okay, I guess the same could be said of Vice President and a few other cabinet posts as well. Hell, why even have the position at all? Just appoint a team of ambassadors to be the face of diplomacy for the United States. Why not.

I think more than ever, this cabinet position is critical to how we deal with and negotiate foreign affairs. With two wars going on, Bin Laden still on the loose, and a host of other regimes forming, for the life of me I don't see how this is an irrelevant position. Not to mention that Obama will be utterly consumed with our domestic economy, he'll need someone who has the balls (sorry Hill) to wander off the ranch every now and then.

Actually, 70, I think you should fill out that 63 question application and apply for the position yourself.

It could be critical if the President wants it to be. If not, he has other options. Richard Nixon opened China, made detente with The Soviets, prevented war between India and Pakistan, got rid of Pinochet, and stoped shipping gold to Europe. Do you know off the top of your head who his Secretary of State was? All the power in the executive branch rests with The President. If he wants to allow her to have power he might, but he doesn't necessarily have to.

BTW, his name was William Rogers.

Furthermore, Obama's peronality strikes me as one who woud prefer to keep decision making as close to himself as possible, especially as it relates to the State Department. The State Department is like this:

1. They move slowly. When the President makes a decision he wants it to be executed. He doesn't want round after round of introspection and meetings. If know one has told him this already, he'll figure it out pretty quickly.

2. They leak. If they don't like a policy direction, they run to the press and try to derail it.

3. They're naive. They seem to believe everything and anything that their foreign counterparts tell them. They are still in search of that elusive "Iranian Moderate" that's always just out of reach, as an example.

[saden1]

Like it or not Obama will run this country the same way he ran his campaign. Brace yourself for there will be intelligence, thoughtfulness, and compromises involved. Knowledgeable people will take part in the discussions and the commander in-chief will actually be smart enough to understand the issues and applies decision science instead of going with his gut.

The grand delusion of Americans is the belief that American foreign policy is moderate. Looking at the last eight years of "carrots be damn, it's time to kick ass, taser some balls and take names" it seems that the delusion has gotten worse. Everyone is above average symptom at work I guess.