http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/us/politics/15clinton.html?hp.

       Late Thursday, speculation swarmed around the prospect of "Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to the New York Times. The Secretary of State serves several functions in the contemporary White House, including the storage and use of the Great Seal of the United States (though as the campaign illustrated, Obama needs little help managing official seals), drafting of proclamations, protocol functions, and responses to inquiries. The most important function of the Secretary of State, however, is to serve the president as chief foreign policy advisor. Obama has stated the need to reclaim America's image abroad, and he may be looking to recycle the Clinton name - in good standing internationally. Though exit polls showed the vast majority of PUMAs (see earlier blog) voting for Barack Obama, for some reason Barack still seems to be preoccupied with appeasing Hillary '08 dissent. Why would Obama tap Clinton, a relative foreign policy lightweight, for one of the most important roles in the White House? At what point is extending the political olive branch not worth it?
       Gregory B. Craig, a friend of Bill Clinton's from Yale Law who served as a top State Department official said during the campaign, "There is no reason to believe...that she was a key player in foreign policy at any time during the Clinton administration. Shedid not do any heavy-lifting with foreign governments...she never managed a foreign policy crisis." While Clinton hyperbolized her foreign role during the campaign, other foreign policy experts expressed concern that the Obama team was downplaying it. Most likely, her experience lands somewhere in the middle, which also means there are other democrats who merit the Secretary of State role before Clinton. Perhaps Obama will rely on Biden for most foreign policy advice, but this would reduce Clinton's role to an almost purely ceremonial one. Both the country and Hillary Clinton deserve something other than Secretary of State Clinton.