Sullivan muses that "If"--I believe he means when--"Hillary wins, Bill should be secretary of state. A formal role on the world stage is far preferable to an informal role on the inside fucking everything up."
I quite agree. And she probably would, were it not for the Federal Anti-Nepotism statute of 1967, which bans such eminently sensible acts as a chief executive appointing whomever he or she deems best suited for the executive's trust and convenience.
Jack Kennedy's selection of his brother as U.S. attorney general was initially met with derision by what was then the loyal opposition--as well as amusement by Jack; it would be good legal training for inexperienced Bobby, he joked--yet among all of Kennedy's cabinet appointments, this was probably the wisest. The president could have total confidence in his brother's advice as selfless; he never had to worry about Bobby's jockeying incompatibly for power either in the next administration or as the next administration. The two were one, as Hillary and Bill would be.
Such wisdom is now forbidden. Congress has sterilized presidential cabinets to the point of virtuous banality and tortured the confirmation process to a point that, by rights, should arouse Geneva's suspicions.
So, another Secretary of State Clinton? Excellent idea. Which is why it won't work.
I'm not a constitutional law professor by any stretch, but if the line-item veto wasn't constitutional how can a mere statue interfere with the President's specifically enumerated constitutional appointment powers?
Posted by: Tim H | January 31, 2014 at 11:38 AM
Oh he may be Secretarial alright, but down the street from his current home, at the UN building.
2017 gets a new Sec General, and THAT my friends would we Wingnut Singularity....
Posted by: Brave Captain of Industry | January 31, 2014 at 12:09 PM