Clinton Flying to Chicago to Join Obama
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/clinton-flying-to-chicago-to-join-obama/
The Caucus - A New York Times Blog
November 30, 2008, 9:26 am
Clinton Flying to Chicago to Join Obama
By Peter Baker [blog]
[11/30/08 9:14 AM] [president-elect Obama administration] [strange co-existence of transition period] [there’s but 1 president but these extraordinary times may call for more collaboration than before] [and president Bush has carefully set up special briefings] [good for Bush] [more evidence that Obama has set his foreign-policy team] [sec def Gates to remain for a year; Clinton at state; General (retired) Jim Jones as NSC advisor; Gov Napolitano at DHS] [Monday, we should hear these names formally and possibly DNI, CIA, so on] [use psci355, 455] [ditto] [******]
CHICAGO – President-elect Barack Obama will roll out his national security team at a
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/clinton-flying-to-chicago-to-join-obama/
The Caucus - A New York Times Blog
November 30, 2008, 9:26 am
Clinton Flying to Chicago to Join Obama
By Peter Baker [blog]
[11/30/08 9:14 AM] [president-elect Obama administration] [strange co-existence of transition period] [there’s but 1 president but these extraordinary times may call for more collaboration than before] [and president Bush has carefully set up special briefings] [good for Bush] [more evidence that Obama has set his foreign-policy team] [sec def Gates to remain for a year; Clinton at state; General (retired) Jim Jones as NSC advisor; Gov Napolitano at DHS] [Monday, we should hear these names formally and possibly DNI, CIA, so on] [use psci355, 455] [ditto] [******]
CHICAGO – President-elect Barack Obama will roll out his national security team at a news conference here on Monday morning, including his former primary rival, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, as his secretary of state, [**]Democrats close to the process said.
Mrs. Clinton is flying to Chicago to appear beside the man who beat her for the Democratic nomination, a person close to Clinton said. Friends previously said she was prepared to join his cabinet in hopes of having more impact than she would in the Senate, but the person close to her said the decision is now official.
In addition to Mrs. Clinton, Democrats said, Mr. Obama plans to announce that he is keeping Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who has run the Pentagon for the last two years under President Bush. And they said Mr. Obama will appoint Gen. James L. Jones, a retired Marine commandant and NATO supreme commander, as his national security adviser. [I have relatively positive hopes] [a) Obama is hands on; b) he’s not afraid to surround himself with smart people then listen to them; c) Clinton has high profile around globe; d) Gates has been running dod well for nearly 2 years and has previously served both Dem and GOP administrations; e) Jones I think will be hard-nosed honest broker] [in past, as my NSC book makes clear, that’s a good balance that tends to work well] [let’s hope so for everybody’s sake] [***]
Rounding out his national security team, Mr. Obama will also name former Deputy Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. as his choice for attorney general and Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona as secretary of homeland security, the Democrats said. Mr. Obama may also announce former Assistant Secretary of State Susan E. Rice as ambassador to the United Nations, a job that will be given cabinet rank in his cabinet, as it had under President Bill Clinton. [***] [nominally if as under Clinton]
The Obama and Clinton teams have been preparing the ground for this announcement for days. Mr. Clinton, who has extensive business and philanthropic interests around the world, agreed to a nine-point plan beyond existing law to avoid potential conflicts of interest, including for the first time the release of more than 200,000 donors to his foundation by the end of the year.
The Obama team has planned for a while to unveil the national security team after the Thanksgiving holiday, but the timing took on additional urgency after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. The attacks, which killed at least 180, including six Americans, offered a reminder that for all of Mr. Obama’s focus on fixing the economy, national security can capture a president’s attention at any moment.
Reports of the selections drew praise from a retiring Republican elder: “The triumvirate of Gates, Clinton and Jones to lead Obama’s national security team instills great confidence at home and abroad and further strengthens the growing respect for the president-elect’s courage and ability to exercise sound judgment in selecting the best and the brightest to implement our nation’s security policies.”
While the choices have generated praise across the aisle, some critics have pointed out that the team represents experience rather than the change Mr. Obama promised on the campaign trail. All of his top choices served in either the Clinton or Bush administration and together make up a more centrist team than some of Mr. Obama’s supporters on the left had hoped for.
At a news conference last week, Mr. Obama said he was trying to “combine experience with fresh thinking” and added that “the vision for change comes” from him.
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