Hillary Clinton has accepted President-elect Obama’s offer to become secretary of state, finally uniting the two most popular democrats after a hard-fought primary season, the New York Times reports.
Two Clinton camp “confidants” confirmed her acceptance after she spoke with Obama for a second time in two weeks, with the intent to clarify some of his foreign policy standings in an effort to make sure the two are on the same page.‚ Last week’s meeting, according to one of the “confidants,” was quite general in nature.
The other source told reporters that the deal is pretty much done, however, while admitting that the alliance would most likely go through, the Obama camp has said no official acceptance has yet been made and none will be announced until after Thanksgiving
Clinton’s spokesman, Phillip Reines, told reporters that the deal is not yet final, but talks are “very much on track.”
The word comes after weeks of intense vetting and discussion, as well as efforts to ensure that if Clinton were to accept the nomination, her husband, Bill Clinton, would agree to certain conditions over his global businesses and philanthropic activities.‚ He complied with turning over the names and information of over 200,000 donors to the Obama camp, in an effort to ensure no conflict of interest would arise, clearing the way for his wife.
Clinton, as secretary of state, will have a very tough job ahead of her, especially after the last eight years, in which the Bush administration has strained relationships with several foreign powers.‚ However as First Lady, she did develop relationships with and travel to over 80 countries.‚ Her experience gives the department a strong background, something Obama has been criticized for lacking.
As one of the most powerful, prominent and popular democrats today, many supporters are ecstatic over the formation of this partnership.‚ This nomination, as opposed to a Vice-President post (which many were hoping for during the election) gives Clinton much more power on a global scale.
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