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Hillary on the Hot Seat
January 12, 2009 5:29 PM
Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has been preparing for weeks for her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee tomorrow morning.
She's been briefed on matters that literally span the globe and with her team of close aides and confidantes, and rotating members of the Obama Transition Team, has been holding mock-confirmation hearings, where she's confronted all sorts of questions ranging from issue-oriented inquiries to hostile ones about past Clinton controversies to uncomfortable quotes from the foreign policy fights she and her soon-to-be-boss, President-elect Barack Obama, had during the Democratic primaries.
Though he very much wanted the job of Top Diplomat, incoming Committee chairman Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., is expected to sing nothing but praise for Clinton in his opening statement and in his presiding of the hearing.
For his part, the ranking Republican Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., will take on in his opening statement what was a thorny issue as the Clinton and Obama teams negotiated her acceptance of the Secretary of State job: her husband's fundraising for the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation.
Lugar will share his view of what needs to be done in terms of mandating the fullest possible disclosure of former President Clinton's activities and fundraising as his wife sets up shop in Foggy Bottom.
The woman known as a Senate workhorse has been diligently preparing with her pending deputy secretaries of State -- Jim Steinberg and Jack Lew -- as well as former former Counselor of the Department of State Wendy Sherman, policy aides Andrew Shapiro and Jake Sullivan, and senior adviser Philippe Reines.
Clinton has reached out and spoken to every member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the past few weeks. She will be introduced by the senior senator from New York, Democrat Chuck Schumer.
A source close to the transition process tells ABC News that the two main themes of Clinton's statement before the committee will be "the renewal of American leadership," and "the revitalization of diplomacy to promote our security interests and advance our values." The source says that Clinton will emphasize that she'll actively work in cooperation with Congress on foreign policy in a bipartisan and pragmatic way. She will push for smarter diplomacy and more funding for the State Department.
The hearing is expected to conclude by the end of Tuesday, though it could possibly spill into Wednesday.
A committee vote is expected Thursday morning, and everyone involved anticipates that a majority of the committee will report her nomination to the full Senate for a vote, which is expected on Jan. 20, the day President-elect Obama becomes President Obama.
-- jpt
January 12, 2009 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (11)
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Still not the Secretary of States job. You could look up the actual job duties, but whatever....
But nice to know that the standard is if a sparrow falls in the next fours years Hillary is to blame.
***************************************************
There's no logic in comparing the inattention shown to Hurricane Katrina to that of a sparrow falling. My point was that while New Orleans was being devastated, both Rice and the Bush administration were responding indifferently. She may very well be held unaccountable in terms of a technical job description for her choice not to allow a national catastrophe to interfere with her enjoyment in NYC, but her indifference to the loss of American lives and most of the city being destroyed will remain one of her legacies. And it can't be covered up by a logic that states her lack of response was okay because it's not part of her job description, or because of her higher ups inaction.
Posted by: kat | Jan 14, 2009 12:48:40 AM
There is no one I respect more than Hillary Clinton. She would have made an amazing President and I still wish it was her that won.
Hillary Clinton as Sec of State will be amazing for our country and the world. She is a diplomat, a fighter and we will all be better off having her in this position.
Posted by: Noah PA | Jan 13, 2009 1:33:26 PM
Wonder how many snipers she will encounter? Maybe she should stay away from Third world countries. OOPS....thats where she will be needed. I know....she can make up a grenade attack and get us in a war with India.
Posted by: American Infidel | Jan 13, 2009 9:21:55 AM
Interesting article! If she does become a Secretary of State, it going to be real problem between her, Obama, and Bill Clinton.
Posted by: anonymous | Jan 13, 2009 4:55:56 AM
"I doubt if she'll be out shopping for shoes during any hurricane emergencies, unlike her predecessor. "
Still not the Secretary of States job. You could look up the actual job duties, but whatever....
But nice to know that the standard is if a sparrow falls in the next fours years Hillary is to blame.
Posted by: BertieW | Jan 12, 2009 11:35:35 PM
Hillary and her husband are tied by
the financial umbilical cord to a lot of
world satraps. No conflict of interest,
........nothing to see here! And a pox
on ANY critic who says otherwise. A
tangerine pantsuit will really wow 'em
in the middle east....just as it did
in overcoming Obama in the primaries.
Clintonites, face the fact that Hillary
can't walk on water...but I bet she
floats like a cork.
Posted by: grizzly bare | Jan 12, 2009 10:41:41 PM
Has there ever been a greater successive failure at two major positions in an administration?
Under Rice's watch we had the spy plane & China incident as well as 9/11 and the subsequent wars.
As Sec of State as far as I can tell her only accomplishment is keeping the Russia-Georgia thing cool when McCain and the right wing maniacs wanted war.
Posted by: Ryan C | Jan 12, 2009 7:36:27 PM
She will do fine. And we DO need her.
Posted by: Laughing Cynic | Jan 12, 2009 7:03:24 PM
Hillary will be the best Secretary of State we ever had. She puts her whole heart and soul into everything she does.
Madame Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton-bring her on.
Posted by: basil | Jan 12, 2009 6:53:17 PM
I doubt if she'll be out shopping for shoes during any hurricane emergencies, unlike her predecessor. HRC has the instincts and work ethic for the job. Madame Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has a nice ring to it.
Posted by: kat | Jan 12, 2009 6:22:41 PM
Gosh darn that troublemaker, Lugar!
But then, he has built a rep for being
a loose cannon, a firebrand, and a
smear machine. I hope he doesn't rain
on our Hillary's parade. We need her
so much right now.
Posted by: grizzly bare | Jan 12, 2009 5:45:12 PM
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