Obama interviews Hillary for top post
US president-elect Barack Obama interviewed primary election rivals Hillary Clinton and Bill Richardson to be his secretary of state, Democrats said, as he considered folding former foes into his new administration.
Mr Obama had secret meetings in Chicago with Mr Richardson yesterday and a day earlier with Mrs Clinton, said several Democratic officials.
He plans to meet his Republican opponent John McCain there on Monday, but advisers to both of the election rivals say they do not expect Mr Obama to consider Mr McCain for an administration job.
The meeting with Mrs Clinton excited a burst of speculation that Mr Obama would transform the former first lady and his fierce campaign foe into one of his top Cabinet officials and the country’s chief diplomatic voice.
But where she stands in contention for the post came into question as other Democrats, speaking anonymously about the private discussions, said Mr Richardson was brought in as well.
The two are not the only candidates Mr Obama has talked to about the job, Democrats say. One senior Obama adviser said the president-elect had given no evidence whom he was favouring for the post.
Mr Obama asked Mrs Clinton directly whether she would be interested in the job, said one Democrat, who warned that it was no indication that he was leaning towards her.
Mr Obama was deciding on his presidential staff as well, naming long-time friend Valerie Jarrett as a White House senior adviser. Ms Jarrett met Mr Obama when she hired his wife for a job in the Chicago mayor’s office years ago and has been a close confidante to the couple ever since.
Mr Obama was silent and out of sight in Chicago. Last night, he attended a birthday party for Ms Jarrett at a high-rise building in the city.
Mrs Clinton, a New York senator, addressed a transport conference in her home state and said emphatically: “I’m not going to speculate or address anything about the president-elect’s incoming administration, and I’m going to respect his process.”
It is far from clear how interested Mrs Clinton would be in being his secretary of state. She would face a Senate confirmation hearing that would certainly probe her husband’s financial dealings – something the Clintons refused to disclose in the presidential campaign.
But remaining in the Senate may not be her first choice, either, since she is a junior senator without prospects for a leadership position or committee chairmanship any time soon.
Being secretary of state could give her a platform for another run at the presidency in eight years and Mr Obama could also get assurances from her that she would not challenge him in four years.
And, unlike the vice presidency that Mr Obama never seriously considered her for, as secretary of state, she would serve at his pleasure.
Mr Richardson is governor of New Mexico and has an extensive foreign policy CV. He was Bill Clinton’s ambassador to the United Nations and has conducted freelance diplomacy for the US in such hotspots as Sudan and North Korea.
He also served in Mr Clinton’s Cabinet as energy secretary and angered his former boss when he endorsed Mr Obama after ending his own primary campaign this year.
