Hillary Clinton ‘Putting the White House on Notice’ About Keystone Pipeline

[karynnj]

44. Not the PUMAs - the Clintons

Imagine if Obama would have chosen anyone from Holbrooke, to Kerry to a diplomat none of then (or now) know the name of. He had no intention of giving Hillary the HHS position which would lead the Obama effort on healthcare, an issue close to her heart. That was then reserved for close ally and early endorser, Daschle.

So, HRC would likely have returned to her role as a Junior Senator with 10 years of seniority - at a time when the Democratic committee heads mostly had over 20 years. There was an idea floated that the HELP committee in the Senate chaired by Kennedy could have the a healthcare subcommittee design the healthcare plan -- and that could be headed by HRC. In fact, all precedent is that a bill like that would be done in the full committee and Kennedy was in DC in summer 2008 - as ill as he was, doing the work needed to get this started as soon as Obama was sworn in.

After losing in 2008, HRC was a HUGE person in Democratic politics -- but her position in the Senate was far less. Had she not been married to the second biggest Democratic power, she might have returned the Senate anyway. It could even have been that she would have sought one of the leadership positions and worked to eventually be Majority leader. (Note that Kerry, after he was the nominee and nearly won the presidency, returned to the position he had in the Senate. He returned - as he left - to be the ranking member of the small business committee. In fact, Clinton allies went out of their way to argue that he was NOT a leader of the party.)

In Clinton's case, the combination of both Clintons, was too much to ignore. The offer of Secretary of State made it more likely that the interests of the Clintons were aligned to the interests of Obama -- and that they would then use all the strength they had to work for the administration. Not to mention, that HRC being as well known as she was could be sent to allies in what were closer to "Presidential" visits than visits of the US Secretary of State. It was win/win for both -- and overall might still be - even with the whole email scandal which in addition to being a drag on her campaign has been giving coverage to lots of long ago dirty laundry.

Compare that to the possibility of a Clinton primary challenge in 2012 - picking up steam after both Clintons blame Obama for the losses in 2010. Obviously, no one knows if that could have happened, but with many arguing that HRC was not treated well by Obama or the Senate -- it could have happened.