President-elect Barack Obama plans to announce his picks for top administration jobs on Monday, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as his secretary of state, transforming a once-bitter political rivalry into a high-level strategic and diplomatic partnership.
Obama will name the New York senator to his national security team at a news conference in Chicago, a person close to Clinton confirmed to FOX News.
Obama's announcements include members of his national security team and beyond, completing the nominations for one-third of his Cabinet as he moves quickly to assemble the country's new leadership in times of war and a troubled economy.
His selections include some of his most loyal campaign advisers and notably some who were not, including Democratic primary rival Clinton and President Bush's defense secretary, Robert Gates, staying in his current post.
Obama will also name Susan Rice as UN ambassador, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as homeland security chief and Eric Holder as attorney general, Democratic officials told FOX News. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly for the transition team.
Last week, he named key members of his economic team, including Timothy Geithner, president of Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as treasury secretary. Obama is not yet ready to name his intelligence advisers, one Democratic official said.
To clear the way for his wife to take the job, former President Bill Clinton agreed to disclose the names of every contributor to his foundation since its inception in 1997. He'll also refuse donations from foreign governments to the Clinton Global Initiative, his annual charitable conference, and will cease holding CGI meetings overseas.
Bill Clinton's business deals and global charitable endeavors were expected to create problems for the former first lady's nomination. But in negotiations with the Obama transition team, the former president agreed to several measures designed to bring transparency to his post-presidential work, including:
-- to volunteer to step away from day-to-day management of the foundation while his wife is secretary of state.
-- to submit his speaking schedule to review by the State Department and White House counsel.
-- to submit any new sources of income to a similar ethical review.
"It's a big step," said Sen. Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who said he plans to vote to confirm Clinton.
Lugar said there would still be "legitimate questions" raised about the former president's extensive international involvement.
"I don't know how, given all of our ethics standards now, anyone quite measures up to this who has such cosmic ties, but...hopefully, this team of rivals will work," Lugar said.
The Clinton pick was an extraordinary gesture of goodwill after a year in which the two rivals competed for the Democratic nomination in a long, bitter primary battle.
The two clashed repeatedly on foreign affairs during the 50-state contest, with Obama criticizing Clinton for her vote to authorize the Iraq war and Clinton saying that Obama lacked the experience to be president. She also chided him for saying he would meet with leaders of rogue nations like Iran and Cuba without preconditions.
The bitterness began melting away in June after Clinton ended her campaign and endorsed Obama. She went on to campaign for him in his general election contest against Republican Sen. John McCain.
Advisers said Obama had for several months envisioned Clinton as his top diplomat, and he invited her to Chicago to discuss the job just a week after the Nov. 4 election. The two met privately Nov. 13 in Obama's downtown transition office.
Clinton was said to be interested and then to waver, concerned about relinquishing her Senate seat and the political independence it conferred. Those concerns were largely ameliorated after Obama assured her she would be able to choose a staff and have direct access to him, advisers said.
Remaining in the Senate also may not have been an attractive choice for Clinton. Despite her political celebrity, she is a relatively junior senator without prospects for a leadership position or committee chairmanship anytime soon.
Some Democrats and government insiders have questioned whether Clinton is too independent and politically ambitious to serve Obama as secretary of state. But a senior Obama adviser has said the president-elect had been enthusiastic about naming Clinton to the position from the start, believing she would bring instant stature and credibility to U.S. diplomatic relations and the advantages to her serving far outweigh potential downsides.
Clinton, 61, a Chicago native and Yale Law School graduate, practiced law and served as the first lady of Arkansas during her husband's 12 years as governor of the state, from 1979-81 and 1983-1992.
Clinton was the nation's first lady from 1993 to 2001. The same year George W. Bush defeated Al Gore to succeed her husband in the White House, Clinton ran for the Senate as a New York Democrat. She won re-election in 2006 and was widely regarded as the favorite for her party's nomination for president in 2008.
In the Senate, Clinton served on the Armed Services Committee, the Committee on Environment and Public Works and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
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3 comments:
and while in the senate, did nothing on any of the panels on which she sat...she has never made new york state any better for her having been senator of said state..is a "do nothing" senator and i suspect, will also be a "do nothing" s.o.s. unlike condoleeza rice who has proven herself over and over again and does have the respect of peoples around the world, unlike hillary, who does not.
Actually with so many nations around the world that don't really respect a woman in that office.. I think picking a woman as Secretary of State, whether it be Condi Rice or Hillary Clinton, is not a good choice. I honestly don't really like Condelezza Rice. I think most the time she looked like a puppet for Bush, which since she works at his pleasure I guess is the right way to be but seeing her at various hearings and whatnot.. I never thought she lent too much and didn't come across as the supposedly super intelligent person she really is. I don't think Hillary is right either. She won't be taken seriously either as a woman for one thing and Bill was a Weak leader and she will be associated with that administration, not for the Obama administration.
on this issue, madelyn albright was viewed as a bright woman (warhorse)and until she outrightly lied about slick willy's goings on, set alright with the populace..after that, it was all downhill for her, however..the job of s.o.s. (or in the service, it is known as sh-- on a shingle,) is to replace something more palatable because the more palatable could not be served at that time...it applies to both sec of state and the messhall variety..they serve in lieu of the president, or in his steed, so to speak, much like sh-- on a shingle serves as a replacement for real food. many, unfortunately, do not know the difference!
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