Hillary Clinton - President (Elect) Obama's Pick for Secretary of State?

The Washington Post broke a story early today stating that Obama team is considering Hillary Clinton as the President-elect's Secretary of State. Backed up by at least one other news agency, and a "no comment" response from Obama transition team spokesman, Tommy Vietor, the potential nomination of Clinton to the Secretary of State post would do a lot to help unite the Democratic Party.

"Secretary Clinton" Would Heal Wounds in the Democratic Party

Although Clinton and Obama presented a united-front in the last month, the wounds from the viciousness and length of the Democratic Party primary season created a lot of animosity between supporters of Senator Clinton and President-Elect Obama. As a current Senate Armed Services Committee member, Senator Clinton has built her own experiences and expertise separate from her role as the former-first lady under President Bill Clinton.

Additionally, Senator Hillary Clinton instantly brings the Obama cabinet international respect from her stance and past work on international women's issues and human rights. Also, of course, complimenting her experiences in the Senate are her 8 years of diplomatic experience while her husband was in the white house.

Placing Senator Clinton in the role as the Secretary of State to work with Obama in the White House would give the Obama camp a major advantage in uniting the Democratic Party. This action would also enable the President-elect to have one less roadblock in accomplishing major agenda items in his first 100 days in office. If President-elect Obama is not able to find a quick means to unite his own party, then he may find it takes a lot longer to start accomplishing his administration's goals for his term in office. Making Senator Hillary Clinton his Secretary of State puts a qualified candidate in the position, and helps further achieve his aims.

Are there more qualified people for the job? Sure, are there more qualified people who can help Obama accomplish more political goals? Probably not. No matter the President-elects choice, it will be interesting to see what cabinet choices he makes in the coming weeks.