Mother Jones - Comments for "Obama's First Drama: Hillary Clinton"

Except for a mention in the Washington Post, I have seen little/no discussion of Article 1, Section 6 of the Constitution which would appear to prohibit appointing Hilary Clinton as Secretary of State and perhaps other Congressmen to cabinet positions. Is this a show stopper? Given his legal background and the rigorous thoroughness Obama has demonstrated in the past, I am surprised at what may be an obvious constitutional conflict.

Please, Hillary has far more life, work and general experience than BHO. She isn't the problem, nor is her husband the problem. I think the biggest problem is those Americans who refuse to remember that we had 8 years of relative peace and prosperity, not to mention fiscal responsibility. I think BHO will be lucky if he can get half as much done as Bill Clinton. We all make mistakes, but Bill Clinton was a good President and he worked tirelessly to promote a better life for all Americans. He has done the same in Africa with his foundation.

Hillary and Bill Clinton are not the problems here; when President Clinton was in office, we had 8 years of relative peace and prosperity; I repeat, 8 years of relative peace and prosperity and when President Clinton left office, he left a 15 trillion dollar surplus which Dubya spent in less than 3 years!
Senator Clinton has worked tirelessly on behalf of the citizens of New York since she was elected twice as their Senator and I believe she will work just as hard for the nation as a whole as the SoS.
As for the Dems being united; we shall see. A lot of us only voted for BHO because Senator Clinton asked us to; I would have preferred to write-in her name on my ballot, but that was not her wish. I and a lot of people just like me are taking a wait and see attitude. I pay little attention to BHO words; I will pay attention to his actions and reactions for that is the measure of his true intentions. Maybe all of you BHO supporters should also take a wait and see approach instead of decrying his every move and word. It seems this transition period is going to be long and arduous for the die-hard believers. Oh, well, easy come, easy go!

I caught Mr. Corn with Amy Goodman debating Jeremy Scahill the other day. Scahill is a formidable SOB and if I were in David's shoes, I'd be back-pedaling too. HRC ruled out single-payer out of hand and actually tried to hand the HMOs a monopoly as first lady.
She's as brutal as Bush and Machiavellian as Rove. I have plenty of facts to back that up. I defended Bill Clinton with flame throwers while he screwed us ALL with deregulation, media consolidation, NAFTA, CAFTA and his damned War on the Poor. Fake centrism, as institutionalized in the DLC, is a function of corruption, of taking baksheesh from the same sources as the GOP.

It's ALL CLINTON, ALL THE TIME, now, and IT WILL BE THE SAME if she is SOS. These Clintonistas, as evidenced by a recent LA Times editorial, are trying to redefine the position of SoS to CO-PRESIDENT. The only DINOs and extremist, covert WACKOS are the ones lobbying so viciously for her appointment. Obama won, and you cultists need to just GET OVER IT.

Leave Hillary alone. She has paid her dues and is also qualified to be SoS. If you want to talk about unqualified people, then take a walk through the past eight years of Bush appointees, most of whom were crooks, shysters and incompetent creeps.

Hillary lied about Bosnia, voted for the war, in the Middle East they do not respect woman, will they respect her around the world, I do not think so. She will not make a dent. Very disapponting with this choice. Bill Richardson would of been a better choice. Time will tell, and the whole world will be watching.

Ah, yes, CDS (Clinton Derangement Syndrome) is alive and well, not only in the Corn household but in many others, if the posts I have seen here mean anything. For those of you who are interested, and not fatally stricken by CDS, I recommend a brilliant essay written by Greil Marcus in 1999, titled "The Man From Nowhere." Here's the link: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1354486?seq=1.

You can also find it as the last chapter in Mr. Marcus' book "Double Trouble: Bill Clinton and Elvis Presley In a Land of No Alternatives," published in 2001. Eight years on, it remains probably the best dissection of CDS. And while you're reading it, think of what the carriers of CDS, who all rushed to tell us in 2000 how lucky we were to have "honor and dignity" restored with the (s)election of George W. Bush, have bestowed on this country for the past eight years. George W. Bush may in fact be "the worst president ever," but he had a lot of help.

It is curious that the choice of Hillary Clinton as SoS has brought on such a sudden onslaught of criticism and disappointment. What was everyone expecting? It was clear from the beginning that Obama was going to offer her a high-level position in his administration.

The vetting of Hillary Clinton should not be interpreted as a return of Clintonism, and not just because this argument produces unwelcome confusion between her husband's political thought and her own. The argument is weak in that it is near impossible to find a high-profile, experienced Democrat that fits the bill for Secretary of State and that has absolutely no link to the former Bill Clinton administration.

Obama has been quite logically surrounding himself by former Clintonites since he was elected. This began with the choice of Rahm Emanuel as Obama's Chief of Staff. This choice, though, went virtually unnoticed despite Emanuel's former role as an advisor to Bill Clinton.

What if Obama wanted to give Hillary the opportunity to become more of a statesperson than a politician? What if he sees in her a talent that has yet to be realized? What if he sees the SoS job as a way of her rising above politics (and her husband) and becoming an exceptional negotiator and representative of his policies (which he has a good handle on)? I'm not a particular Clinton fan, but I think this is an opportunity for her to use her smarts to go beyond partisan politics and show just how effective she can be. One more thing ... Obama can fire her from this position which he couldn't if she'd remained in the Senate....

It is pretty evident to me that what separate a right wing lunatic from a left wing lunatic is just the direction in which they comb their hair. Even when I see a few reasonable posts here, it is clear that most of you are kooks and lunatics, not different form the reactionaries republicans that have wrecked our country. Is just that you will abuse us from the left instead of the right. The more I se the way Obama is handling things, the more convince I am that he will not run the country on the advise of kooks like David Corn, but on the advise of more moderate and centrist figures. Folks, in case that you missed the memo, the UNITY Mr. Obama seeks will not be an exercise of left wing radicalism, but a true enterprise of coalition building and efficient government. If he succeeds, both of you, right and left wingnuts, will become a debating society fit for the roman coliseum blood sports!

this personalizes or propagates the cult of personality.
one person and everything is fine; another person and things will go ok; still next individual and things will go soso.
change the prez and prosperity, peace, justice will flow?
sorry, there is only one uncle. he cannot be split in two or three parts.
also sprach sam. thnx

I think it is an early lesson Obama gets to learn here. He should have locked the two of them in a room, said take it or leave it. Then announce. If the nomination fell out because of Bill's business deals then so be it, at least Obama gets to walk away without stinking of this media circus for the last two weeks!

Pretty weak David.
I personally think that our health care situation would be infinitely better today if Hillary's plan would have been adopted. You know there was much approval for her plan until the Kristol memo and Harry and Louise. Don't blame her for that.
Hillary is an extremely intelligent and popular world leader and will do an exemplary job as Sec. of State.
I think its time to expunge your personal Hillary drama.

Korn has truly amazed me--ever since the primary!

What in HELL is the substantive difference between S. Clinton and PE Obama???

It's Obama's people doing the leaking. If the moon falls you Clinton haters will find a way to blame them. Give it a rest. Use common sense and not your incredible jealousy to form your views.

Under the clinton adminstration your bellies were full and bank accounts fat; therefore you were able to get on your moral high horse and vote moral issues. George Bush mentioned God and all of you self appointed religious judges condemned Clinton and voted in the moron Bush Jr. Now look at where we are?

Look at the fact before pointing your self-rightous finger. Clinton set a policy in motion that needed refining, but YOUR Republican administration found away to make it work for big cooperations and didn't put the necessary restrictions for workers rights. Your solution is to blame Bill.

All of Clinton haters really need to get some help. The media has made you look away from your self-interest and that of the country with inaccurate sound bits. Hillary Clinton is very capable, and even the Republicans in the Senate have gained great respect for her abilities. You media sound bit people are still buying into propaganda. A mind is a terrible thing to waste, pick up a book and read.

Mother Jones - Comments for "Obama&#039;s First Drama: Hillary Clinton"

Mother Jones - Comments for "Obama's First Drama: Hillary Clinton"