Just call her Madam Secretary

By Weekly Archive On Dec 2, 2008

Listen
to the anguished cries of the purists: Never has a campaign promise
been broken so soon.

As
a candidate, Barack Obama promised change: a break with the politics
of the past and a new galaxy of talented young leaders in Washington.
And what’s the first thing he did as president-elect? Ask Hillary
Clinton to be his secretary of state!

What,
ask the purists, was he thinking? Hillary doesn’t represent change.
She’s just more of the same. Not only did she smear him during the
primaries, but her nomination is a throwback to the disgraced Bill
Clinton presidency Democrats have worked so hard to put behind them.
Does Barack Obama really want the circus back in town?

So
say the purists. They are disappointed. They are disillusioned. They
are hurt. And they are wrong. Barack Obama’s choice of Sen. Clinton
as America’s next secretary of state is both bold and brilliant. She
is the embodiment of change, not its contradiction.

After
all, in promising change, Obama wasn’t committing himself to filling
his administration with a bunch of people nobody ever heard of, none
of whom had any prior experience in Washington. By change, Obama
meant a change of direction from the disastrous policies of George W.
Bush and Dick Cheney. He’s been searching for the best possible
leaders to deliver that change. And aside from Obama himself, there’s
nobody better qualified to represent America around the globe than
the junior senator from New York — even though she ran against Obama
in the primaries, and even though her last name is Clinton.

One
argument in her favor, of course, is the old adage: "Hold your
friends close; and your enemies, closer." There’s a lot of truth
to that. Certainly, Obama won’t have to worry about Hillary mounting
a challenge against him in 2012 as long as she’s his secretary of
state. But he probably didn’t have to worry about that, anyway.

For
Obama, what tipped the scales toward Hillary was something much more
important. As others have noted, in reaching out to Hillary Clinton,
Obama is consciously following the model of President-elect Abraham
Lincoln, so well detailed in Doris Kearn Goodwin’s marvelous book
"Team of Rivals." Lincoln actually brought four political
opponents into his Cabinet, including his arch-rival William Seward
— another senator from New York! — as secretary of state. Lincoln
did so not because he was trying to clip their political wings, but
because he was convinced each was the best person for the job. Same
with Obama and Clinton.

There
were other good candidates for secretary of state: John Kerry, Bill
Richardson, Susan Rice. But nobody brings the same set of skills and
experience to the nation’s top diplomatic post as Hillary Clinton. As
first lady, she traveled to over 80 foreign nations, visiting places
that heads of state would never see. In 1995, she made a famous
speech on women’s rights in Beijing, reminding world leaders that
"women’s rights are human rights." She and daughter Chelsea
made a historic visit to six African countries in 1997. Clinton has
continued her foreign policy work as member of the Senate Armed
Services Committee. And she remains, together with husband Bill and
Barack Obama, one of the three most admired Americans around the
globe.

Perhaps,
most significantly, Clinton has proved herself a real team player.
Yes, she ran against Barack Obama in the primaries. She ran a
spirited, but losing, campaign. And once that was over, she not only
rushed to endorse her former opponent, she held some 70 Obama events
— more than any other politician — and gave a rousing speech for
him in Denver. She will be a loyal member of Obama’s team and,
despite press speculation to the contrary, so will the former
president. He won’t do anything to get in her way. He wants his wife
to succeed, even if he’s still sore that she won’t be in the White
House.

Obama’s
thinking on Hillary Clinton, by the way, also holds true on his
decision to retain Robert Gates at the Defense Department. Yes, it’s
counterintuitive, but it provides continuity at the Pentagon during
two wars, and it’s a clever way of silencing his critics when Gates,
following his orders, starts bringing troops home from Iraq.

Hillary
Clinton stepping in as secretary of state. Bob Gates staying in as
secretary of defense. What we’ve already learned to expect from
President Obama is the unexpected. You can’t have change without it.

Bill
Press is host of a nationally syndicated radio show and author of a
new book, "Train
Wreck: The End of the Conservative Revolution (and Not a Moment Too
Soon)." You
can hear "The Bill Press Show" at his Web site:
billpressshow.com. His email address is: bill@billpress.com.