It appears that President-elect Barack Obama is going to select Senator Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. Without forgetting that political relationships are about using people, there is a lot to be said for moving ahead after a hard fight and hard feelings.
Given this reconciliation between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton , it is a good time to think about who in our lives we can move ahead with, past bad times, to a better relationship.
When we are in our graves, how will our anger and our grudges serve us?
I understand moving on… but some of Clinton’s behavior during the campaign revealed just how low she was willing to go to get what she wanted…. and revealed some trust issues. I will have a hard time believing anything she says, especially after she used the argument that she didn’t know what she was voting for when she voted to authorize the war in Iraq. Everyone else in the government knew what it meant, as did the media and the American people….who were already geared up for the attack at that point.
More importantly…. I am perplexed by the appointment because these two have (or so I thought) two different world views and two very divergent opinions about diplomacy, use of force, and Americas place in the World, relations with key Countries, etc. Although Obama has shown himself to be much more to the right than I thought… He’s much more of a traditional Democrat…. not a change agent at all. Perhaps Obama has been a hawk all along….
The corporate media made him out to be the most liberal politician on earth…. which is why a lot of folks are surprised by his foreign policy picks. But I was getting the feeling as far back as a year ago that he was much more to the right… particularly on foreign policy. His cabinet picks have only confirmed my gut feelings about him. But as right leaning as he is (or “centrist” as it’s called), Clinton and the band of Clintonites, and Democratic hawks are still even farther to the right than he is.
And of course, there are no Progressives in any key positions to balance any of this out.
I call the new government “Neo-Con Light”.
You make many good points, but at this point this is what we have. I’m willing, to an extent, to trust these folks. I’m like Ronald Reagan and arms control agreements–Trust but verify.
Thanks for the comment.