Disappointing picks

The BBC News website, among others, has announced that Hilary Clinton is to be nominated as Secretary of State while Robert Gates is to stay on at Defense.

The Clinton choice is bad for a couple of reasons. First, there are so many conflict of interest issues regarding her husband. For example, her serving in that position will require that he limit his activities regarding the William Clinton foundation. I don't entirely trust that serial hair-splitter to keep to that. Her vote for the war should also disqualify her as it was a blunder on a key foreign policy issue. She also never served on the Foreign Relations committee in the Senate and being First Lady isn't a qualification for the job. As I've said in a prior post, Bill Richardson would've been a much better choice. So would career diplomat Susan Rice, who got the UN Ambassador spot.

The Robert Gates nomination is clearly an attempt to reach out to the Republicans and I doubt that it will profit him. There's no reason to believe that they will be any less obstructionist than they were in the last congress. Indeed, the Democratic gains in the last elections should mean that Obama shouldn't have to reach out to the extent of offering them a key Cabinet slot. As Bush's Secretary of Defense, he is tied to the Iraq war. He also bears the taint of the Iran-Contra scandal.