Matthews Dumps On Hillary – Who Should Not Be Secretary of State

And I’ll be honest – I don’t necessarily disagree with the criticism Matthews puts forward of the possible selection of the former First Lady, former presidential candidate and sitting US Senator as Secretary of State.

During the ride to DC, Matthews awoke from his nap. A fellow passenger asked him, "What's the news tomorrow?" - to which Matthews loudly started talking about President-elect Barack Obama possibly picking Hillary as his secretary of state.

"I don't understand it," Matthews bellowed. "Why would he pick her? I thought we were done with the Clintons. She'll just use it to build her power base. It's Machiavellian. And then we'll have Bill Clinton, too. I thought Obama didn't want drama. He's already got [chief of staff Rahm] Emanuel and [transition team leader John] Podesta. He'll have even more drama with her.

"She's just a soap opera. If he doesn't pick her, everyone will say she's been dissed again, we'll have to live through that again."

Of course, there are two other issues as well. First, HillaryÂ’s resume really better suits her to be Attorney General than it does to be Secretary of State. Second, it does hearken back to the 3 AM commercial she ran during the primary, once again making Obama look weak, inexperienced, and apparently in desperate need of the assistance of the very person who most strongly questioned his foreign policy and national security credentials during.

For more reasons to oppose Hillary as Secretary of State, check out this list from HarperÂ’s:

1. Hillary Clinton will have her own agenda (as will her husband). She’s not a team player and will bring in a crew of cronies whose chief aim will be to promote the boss, not the administration. Obama may wake up one day and discover that Hillary has decreed a new “Clinton Doctrine” of foreign policy.




2. It would be impossible, politically, to fire Hillary. No matter what she says or does, or how insubordinate, Obama will be stuck with her as long as she wants to stay.




3. Her husband is a walking conflict of interest. Bill helps a Canadian businessman land a uranium contract in Kazakhstan, and soon afterwards the businessman contributes to the Clinton Foundation. BillÂ’s personal and business dealings are embarrassing enough without Hillary heading the State Department.




4. The Clinton style of management–for example, pitting one faction of staff against another–would be a disaster at the State Department. Just look at how well it worked on the campaign trail.

5. And the strongest strike of all against Hillary as secretary of stateÂ… look at who endorses her.

I am curious, though – how will Matthews’ impromptu dig at Hillary Clinton impact his potential Senate bid in 2010? Will it lead to Clintonista’s seeking revenge? Will Obamatrons rallying to him – or to their opposing Matthews due to his public questioning of The One’s wisdom?

Posted by: Greg at 01:31 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 491 words, total size 4 kb.