What’s Next for Hillary Clinton?

KT,

I think Hillary would be a great majority leader. And just for the record. Mark Penn does not deserve to be paid. He poorly served Hillary and should wave his fees due to malpractice.

Time to change the banner.

KT here–

Gunny: I am told that she is genuinely not interested in the job, which is all about counting votes, kissing butts and finding the lowest common denominator to get you to 60. one person close to her joked that she’d rather chew her own arm off. also, both durbin (obama’s closest ally in the senate) and schumer are in line ahead of her, if reid (who has a very tough race in two years) decides to step down.

Hi KT — hope you have caught up on some sleep. What has to happen to improve the relationship bewtween Obama and HC? Who has to say what to who?

Enjoyed the live blogging and hope the Time ax man will p@assover you.

It’s interesting how we in the blogosphere are always complaining about how much press coverage is about personality and horse-race aspects of politics and not enough about policy and governing. It’s therefore disconcerting to learn that the business of governing itself is all about personality and horse-racing. At least we can be assured that those positions that require intelligence and analytical ability will be filled by people who have the capacity.

Hi KT — hope you have caught up on some sleep. What has to happen to improve the relationship bewtween Obama and HC? Who has to say what to who?

Enjoyed the live blogging and hope the Time ax man will p@ssover you.

It’s interesting how we in the blogosphere are always complaining about how much press coverage is about personality and horse-race aspects of politics and not enough about policy and governing. It’s therefore disconcerting to learn that the business of governing itself is all about personality and horse-racing. At least we can be a$$ured that those positions that require intelligence and analytical ability will be filled by people who have the capacity.

KT here–

Andy: What repairs any relationship in politics is one thing: mutual self-interest. And as I note in the story, I see the potential for it here.

Also, since you guys seem to enjoy these behind the scenes things: This interview was something I had begged for for weeks, on the promise that it wouldn’t run until after the election. I got turned down and turned down and then suddenly they changed their minds. I was really grateful for that, because I was going to have to write an HRC story for the election issue either way, and didn’t want to do yet another story that had other people speculating about her.

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From KT’s story:

Clinton…also seems to be studying up on the President-elect’s playbook for turning a campaign into a movement.

If true, then Clinton has it totally wrong. The movement found a campaign, not the other way around.

Interesting.
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The Majority Leader role is what the occupant makes of it. Sam Rayburn wasn’t an a$$kisser. Nor was LBJ.
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Or, FTM, Newt.
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Also interesting to see this Second City axis emerging, including, of course, Clinton.

The Democrats are in an enviable position. Does anyone doubt that Obama and Clinton are two of the smartest, most driven leaders in generations? And, how about the bench in Congress and state houses? Rove handed over a party like George Steinbrenner did a team – bloated, depleted, and with a long rebuilding process ahead.

RedState has begun Operation Leper. Anyone perceived to be smearing Palin is on the list.
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It is our expressed intention to make these few people political lepers.
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They’ll just have to be stuck at CBS with Katie’s failed ratings.
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Initial list:
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Nichole Wallace
Steve Schmidt
Mark McKinnon
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http://www.redstate.com/diaries/erick/2008/nov/05/operation-leper/

KT – First of all, I wanted to thank you for your input during the campaign. You are fun to read and I especially appreciate your comments in the comments.
My comment…. Hillary for the Supreme Court. The next pick should be a woman. She is brilliant and would make a wonderful addition to the court.

KT, great article. The line from the Clinton aide about McCain, in retrospect, breaking with his party in 2000-2 because of personal pique is interesting. I’m largely convinced by that theory. Occasionally his erratic temperament will lead him to do something good.
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With this article, and the Newsweek postmortems, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Clinton is just not that personally ambitious. Which completely makes sense when you think about it. She’s lived a tough life, been more hated than pretty much anyone in America, and of course she wouldn’t want to travel around Iowa with a press corps that hates her – Cruella de Hil? Seriously? – and stay in bad motels. If she were majority leader, or in the Cabinet, there would be constant stories about her scheming to thwart Obama and make his Presidency a failure so she could run in 2012. Basically, when she’s in the public eye the media inevitably starts to hate her.
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I hope she pushes Obama to advance his health care plans – private health care is a luxury this economy can’t afford; everyone should remember that if health care prices had stayed constant, real wages would have risen in the last 8 years – and stays out of the media glare in her nice home. She deserves it.

KT–
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Any chance of a Fitzgerald appointment at AG? Perfect fit for revamping War on Terra and for depoliticizing the agency.

Any chance of a Fitzgerald appointment at AG

Be still my beating heart!

The Chicago connection would make him a natural – eh?

KT
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To prove I am as bipartisan as the next fellow and in light of the stuff coming out about Sarah Palin I want to ask, did you hear anything juicy around the Obama campaign when Joe Bidem made any of his verbal gaffes? And if so what was said and what was the tone? YES I am being a gossipy nosey busy body but I figure if we are going to learn that Sarah Palin cant pass 6th grade geography that we might as well know how Obama reacted to Joe Biden not being able to pass 8th grade American history lol

KT
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To prove I am as bipartisan as the next fellow and in light of the stuff coming out about Sarah Palin I want to ask, did you hear anything juicy around the Obama campaign when Joe Bidem made any of his verbal gaffes? And if so what was said and what was the tone? YES I am being a gossipy nosey busy body but I figure if we are going to learn that Sarah Palin cant p@ss 6th grade geography that we might as well know how Obama reacted to Joe Biden not being able to pass 8th grade American history lol

KT
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To prove I am as bipartisan as the next fellow and in light of the stuff coming out about Sarah Palin I want to ask, did you hear anything juicy around the Obama campaign when Joe Biden made any of his verbal gaffes? And if so what was said and what was the tone? YES I am being a gossipy nosey busy body but I figure if we are going to learn that Sarah Palin cant p@ss 6th grade geography that we might as well know how Obama reacted to Joe Biden not being able to p@ss 8th grade American history lol

Yes, dirks, I thought of that too.
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The DOJ is filled with landmines. They have to have someone who is impecaably non-partisan to clean it up, because the Republicans will claim that attempts to remove civil service political hires are themselves political.
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Also, Fitz has a solid record successfully prosecuting terrorists, and was key in providing information sources pre-9/11.
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His press conference was a thing to behold. Probity incarnate.

sgw–
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As KT and others reported, they cut off access to Biden. And Biden was pretty clearly a good soldier throughout. Solid choice. Solid performance. Did what he was told.

“If true, then Clinton has it totally wrong. The movement found a campaign, not the other way around.” I think it was a synergistic marriage made in heaven. Neither one possible without the other. And the movement connected to a man who knows how to use them to get things done. Exciting.
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As for the article, thank you KT. Very nicely done. I really like the image of Hillary as one who will keep the pressure on our new President (that is such a pleasure to write) to enact the agenda he (and she) ran on. And a bit of personal tension between them will not harm that effort.
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In the end, I can easily imagine them working together very effectively, largely ignoring the seniority system that was made somewhat irrelevant in Hillary’s case because of her historic candidacy and vast appeal to an important constituency. Imagine Hillary engaging her supporters and Obama engaging his in pursuit of the common goal of national health care for all.
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Question, KT. How do you react to the predictable msm storyline that Obama simply must govern from the center?

Karen – Refusing your interview repeatedly and then giving in pretty much sounds like the Clinton camp still has to game everything. Sounds like somebody eventually realized you were going to write a story anyway, and they’d like some input from Clinton herself.

KT: I guess I am puzzled about why one wants to know what HRC plans to do. As soon as she declares an interest the knives will be out, especially from members of your own community. Your posts reflect both maturity and fairness; but some of your colleagues in FoxLand and MessNBC are really “foam at the mouthers” as soon as they hear that HRC is campaigning to be sheriff or whatever. Hurtful things are the coin of the realm for the people I refer to: you will notice my hesitation to call them journalists.

I would love to see Obama reach across the isle and hire some of the Republican lawyers who proved their integrity by refusing to conduct unlawful and politically motivated prosecutions. Like David Iglesias and the Navy JAG Charles Swift. It would serve two purposes: reward meritorious service, and stick fingers in the eyes of the people who ill used them.

wvng: well said. Add the attorney in California (name? a Chinese lady). Let’s wait for the squeal from no nothings as soon as the current USDA’s are given their marching orders as per conventional practice.

KT –
Excellent piece, as always. Are the Masters of Time™ familiar with how much you’re appreciated by Swamplanders?
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As for Sen. Clinton, I feared a successful candidacy would have brought four years of partisan gridlock – she’s just too natural (and effective) a target for the Right. We needed something much more than a 50% +1 presidency, and I think we got what we needed. Her standing, paradoxically, has been enhanced by her unsuccessful run. She may well prove to be more of an asset to an Obama presidency than she would have been in her own right.

7oaks07 – That would be Carol Lam.
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/18/us-attorneys-firing-may-be-linked-to-cia-probe/

KT, enjoyed the article very much. I’m glad it was yours to write because the tone was even and fair. As much as I like Hillary, I don’t think she would be good on the Supreme Court. Isolated in an office musing about intricacies of the law just doesn’t seem what she does best. Your points about majority leader also make sense, although I agree with Jayack that apart from the senority issue, she could make it a stronger position.
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All this talk about Patrick Fitzgerald as AG makes my heart go pitty pat. If not Fitz, Iglesias or Carol Lam would also please me.

7oaks07: “Let’s wait for the squeal from no nothings as soon as the current USDA’s are given their marching orders as per conventional practice.”

Yep. And, even if it wasn’t normal practice for new Presidents to put in a new slate of USAs, my working assumption with this crowd is that all of the USAs currently in place are there because they agreed to do things Rove wanted them to do.

Atrios points out a stupid mistake in a time article about Rahm:
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He could be in line to replace Nancy Pelosi as House majority leader, which may be what’s giving him pause.
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If it’s just online, that’s better than in print.
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Hard to imagine a mistake like this made about Tip O’Neill or Newt Gingrich, or even a figurehead like Denny Hastert. Can’t get over the feeling it has something to do with gender.

Karen, I just wanted to add my thanks for your remarkably objective and well-written reporting. You are head and shoulders above most of your colleagues. This will no doubt serve you remarkably well in the future. I think you may end up being one of the great ones.

Ah, friend preview, I knew you well.

Oh, man, Fitzgerald as AG. How great would that be?
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Whoever it is will need to heavily disinfect the office.

I am surprised to see the Rahm indecision play out publicly – it doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Thanks Karen for your often insightful and just contributions. Whether or not I agreed with your premise, your thoughtfulness was always apparent — unlike many of your colleagues. Moreover, despite my avid support of Obama, he too will need to held accountable and that is still the job of the MSM and I am confident that in the watch dog function you will be as fair and balanced with him as you are in this article about Hillary.

I am surprised to see the Rahm indecision play out publicly – it doesn’t make a lot of sense.

It does if he says no. and was never interested.

KT, thanks for the article. I enjoyed it.

I think Hillary will be known in history as a great senator and a true patriot. As I said in a thread yesterday it’s very interesting to compare Hillary’s tireless stumping and on-message defense of Obama on TV with Mitten’s ambiguous support of McCain. Hillary and Barack might never become good friends but they both really put their country first and I believe they will develop an excellent working relationship.

I see Hillary as the “face” of the Dem party on TV. She’s excellent at explaining policy and by now has a real reputation as a centrist (ironically thanks in large part to the McCain camp, who absurdly tried to contrast Hillary and Obama’s almost identical positions on the issues).

From TPM on Rahm, like the Hamlet ref. –
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Rahm Playing Hamlet On Chief Of Staff Offer
Rahm Emanuel is expressing some serious reluctance about whether he’ll accept the position of White House chief of staff: “I do know something about the White House and I have children now. I have a family.” The tradeoff for Emanuel is that if he leaves the House of Representatives, he would be effectively giving up on his long-term goal of becoming Speaker.
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He is further down the line as Speaker, but if it is a long term goal… The TIME article should have made that more clear.

jay,
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I wasnt talking about KT hearing Biden’s gaffes. I was asking her what she heard about the Obama people REACTING to his gaffes. I know they run a tight ship but I am thinking at least once she HAD to hear somebody like Robert Gibbs slip and say “What da phuck did he just say?” Im thinking about in the last week when he gave the wrong monetary figure when talking about who Obama identifies as the middle class.

jay,
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I wasnt talking about KT hearing Biden’s gaffes. I was asking her what she heard about the Obama people REACTING to his gaffes. I know they run a tight ship but I am thinking at least once she HAD to hear somebody like Robert Gibbs slip and say “What da phuck did he just say?” Im thinking about in the last week when he gave the wrong monetary figure when talking about who Obama identifies as the middle cl@ss