Friday, November 14, 2008

More on Clinton for Secretary of State !

The Times: Article on why President - Elect Obama should make Hillary Clinton the next Secretary of State, simple its leaked so he has no choice. If Obama jumps every time a story leaks he will be seen as weak, if he now appoints Clinton it will be seen that he was pushed in to the appointment by the press and the Clintons. One has to ask does Hillary Clinton want the job and why, in this day and age Foreign Policy comes out of the White House, will Obama give her a free hand to do what she wants, from an Obama view point it would better if she was a backbencher in the Senate. One can see a different power base within the Administration if Obama gives State to Clinton. At State you would have Hillary and Bill Clinton running the show in many respects, Obama is POTUS but he is young and Foreign Policy, well most policy is new to him, he's been running for President since he was elected in 2004. In a pure LBJ power political view point this was would be bad move, who is going to control Bill Clinton. I don't see President Clinton allowing his wife to be the fall guy if Obama's policy with Iran does not work; the Western Powers have tried to talk to Iran, they just play games; for high level talks you would need the Secretary of State, does Clinton want the blame when it does not work, does she want to seem weak when faced by Iran or Pakistan, thus if this move by Obama is on the cards its a very bad move, he needs someone like former Secretary of State, General Colin Powell, he will be loyal but also knows Foreign and Defence Policy.

Model T and the Bailout

New York Times: Interesting article that argues against the bailout of the Car Industry, the article states the following, " because if these companies are not permitted to go bankrupt now, they never will be. " Lets hope President - Elect Obama reads this article by David Brooks, even better Obama could appoint Brooks to be his Treasury Secretary. The problem has started with the Bush Administration, now a Liberal Obama Administration under pressure from its supporters will bailout the Car Industry, the problem is that it does not end there, every company with a large work force will go cap in hand to the government for money. Lets be honest it will be hard to argue with them, the banking bailout, the car bailout, why not every other Industry. Its better in the long term that bad companies go under and then the system can recover, the Great Depression did not end because FDR put money in to the market, it came to and because of World War Two. Thus if an Obama Administration learns the wrong lessons the world economy could be in recession if not depression for a very long time, the good days have gone folks, save that money its going to be tough out there, its mean time on main street.

Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State ?

New York Post: Reports that Senator Hillary Clinton could get the nod to be the third female Secretary of State. I don't see why Senator Clinton would want the job, lets be honest, she would not be the first female she would be the third to hold the job. The Secretary of State is only as effective as his or her relationship with the President. Also we have the plus and negative aspects that with Hillary you get Bill, on the plus side he is a former POTUS, on the negative side its Bill Clinton. On the whole it could be argued that Hillary Clinton should run for Governor of New York, then after an Obama Administration she can run for the Presidency again in 2016. Lets recall in 2016 Mrs Clinton will be 69, the same age as Ronald Reagan in 1980.