Secretary Clinton? Some Reasons Why

November 19, 2008 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under Obama administration 

There’s a lot going on in Jason Horowitz’ short article —”Why Would Obama Proffer State Gig to Clinton?“— in the New York Observer today.

People are speaking the unspeakable, thinking the unthinkable, whistling past the graveyard, making a virtue of adversity, and —just in case she actually gets it— doing some serious sucking up.

The consensus seems to be: during the crucial first years of the new administration, while the President will be up to his eyeballs with the economy, a firm non-nonsense hand will be needed at State.  And there’s no question about who has the firmest most no-nonsense hand inside the Beltway.

But if you ask some of the most prominent members of the Democratic foreign policy establishment, the consensus about her appeal as a potential secretary of state is much simpler: She’ll deliver.

“She is tough,” said Will Marshall, president and founder of the Progressive Policy Institute, a Democratic think tank that advocates a muscular foreign policy. “Lingering doubts about Democratic resolve on national security questions are put to rest with Hillary in the job. She has a demonstrable quotient of backbone.”

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