To understand the central dynamic behind Barack Obama’s unorthodox selection of Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state, one must look abroad to parliamentary political systems where the most powerful opposition figure routinely becomes prime minister when his party wins a majority, while the second most potent politician is usually named the foreign minister.
That’s the model. Obama’s selection of Clinton is by no means the act of a president tapping his favorite to hold the top portfolio in his administration. Instead, it is the appointment by the leader of the majority party - trying to hold it together behind his leadership - offering due deference to the woman he narrowly defeated.
Obama realizes that it is Hillary’s and Bill’s Democratic Party he now leads. He is the new guy in town. So he has paid obeisance to the Clintons’ power by naming their loyalists to his Cabinet and their pretender to the presidency to head the State Department.
No comments:
Post a Comment