Transition transmission: The news that President-Elect Obama has apparently offered the State Department to former rival Hillary Clinton sent some their old primary supporters back to the center of the ring - March-style - to duke it out on the political canvas. Among those old school, pre-change combatants the back-and-forth seemed almost quaint, and the vitriol of the PUMA-like Clinton-hating dead-enders - those not on board with Obama's judgment in this crucial transition - was almost laughably Victorian.
Euphoria was just sooooo last week. When there's an accomplished Democratic woman named Hillary to be hated, they ride to the sound of the guns.
But, it must be admitted, people do change - even pundits. Two formerly wool-died Clinton bashers left their dungeons and dipped their torches in buckets of ice-cold reason yesterday to endorse and defend their champion's courtship of Senator Clinton.
First up, Andrew Sullivan, whose strong support from the right of Senator Obama was tarnished by an almost unhinged (and occasionally sexist) public and personal distaste for Senator Clinton.
I don't think Clinton as secretary of state would be mere symbolism. And I think it's a brilliant way to coopt her without in any way demeaning her. More to the point: Dick Morris is furious and Drudge is trying to wish the story away. That tells you what smart politics this would be. The more I think about it, the more I support it. She did her duty this fall. And she is the kind of toughie who could be a real Iron Lady type with the Russians and Iranians. That global presence would be a better prep for a future presidential run (yes, I'll jump off that bridge when we get to it) and help separate her from her hubby. And if she turns Obama down, her leverage against him is weakened anyway. He did his best. Due diligence, and all that.
But I don't think it's a head-fake. And I think she may say yes.
Now, I disagree with some of the "keep her close to keep her from trouble" reasoning. For one, it's offensive to the President-Elect, who may well be trying to put together the strongest possible team and has no secondary calculation in play. And for another, it discounts the unprecedented and full-throated support Clinton gave to Obama from her convention speech onward. Still, Sullivan has moved.
So too has the formerly reliably Clinton-hater Chris Matthews, whose unsubtle support for Senator Obama in the primaries was tarnished by an almost unhinged (and occasionally sexist) public and personal distaste for Senator Clinton. When "analyst" Michelle Bernard and think tanker Jennifer Donahue - both Hillary haters - trashed Obama's apparent first choice for Secretary of State, with Bernard actually peddling a loonball "parallel government" theory that directly dissed Obama as a weakling - Matthews threw the penalty flag:
You guys are so suspicious. Look, I think that since she lost the fight for the nomination, Michelle and Jennifer, she has been not just a good soldier, she has sang the tune of this guy. She's been illustrious, she's been admirable. She -- her spirit seems to be with him. Bill's a little more troubled, obviously, by what happened. But she's been totally with him, and that's why he's obviously thrown her name out. Why would he even be thinking of her if he thought she might be insubordinate?
Who knows if Clinton will accept the post. I hope she does - not because it's somehow a vindication for those of us who supported Hillary during the primary, but because she's the strongest possible partner for President Obama as he seeks to restore America's reputation in the world. Those early die-hard Obama supporters who somehow chose not to believe his oft-repeated words about a "team of rivals" along the way should try and have a little more faith in their guy, who hasn't even been sworn in yet.
We don't have time to refight this personal battle, especially when both principals have moved on. I think Chris Bowers really nailed it:
...while the party is supposed to come together after the primaries,
that doesn't mean one side is supposed to be entirely subservient to
the other side.
I don't care about the Clinton vs. Obama battle anymore. I can't even believe some people are still living through it. I care about the progressive vs. centrist struggle, and that is not, and never has been, the same thing as Obama vs. Clinton.
