Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama's former bitter rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, is his nominee for secretary of state. President-elect Obama and Mrs. Clinton fought perhaps the most polarizing nomination battle in decades, but in recruiting her for his cabinet, Mr. Obama has chosen to turn a rival into a partner. Image Credit: Chris Keane/Reuters

Obama’s World?, Not So Much With Hillary Here!

Most people who voted for Barack Obama preferred his approach to the world view than first, Hillary Clinton, and second, John McCain.

Many felt that with the direction that George Bush had taken our international relations was damaging to our standing in the world and that Barack Obama would signal a new approach and uplift our standing.

Well folks, guess again, Hillary Clinton is not standing still and waiting to be plugged in as a “pop-bead” into the necklace of a Barack Obama world view when January 20th, 2009 arrives.

Basically, Hillary Clinton is planning a different kind of State Department … kinda’ a Bill Clinton State Department on steroids!

This excerpted and edited from the New York Times -

Clinton Moves to Widen Role of State Dept.
By MARK LANDLER and HELENE COOPER – New York Times - Published: December 22, 2008

Even before taking office, Hillary Rodham Clinton is seeking to build a more powerful State Department, with a bigger budget, high-profile special envoys to trouble spots and an expanded role in dealing with global economic issues at a time of crisis.

Mrs. Clinton is recruiting Jacob J. Lew, the budget director under President Bill Clinton, as one of two deputies, according to people close to the Obama transition team. Mr. Lew’s focus, they said, will be on increasing the share of financing that goes to the diplomatic corps. He and James B. Steinberg, a deputy national security adviser in the Clinton administration, are to be Mrs. Clinton’s chief lieutenants (nominations of deputy secretaries, like Mrs. Clinton’s, would be subject to confirmation by the Senate).

The incoming administration is also likely to name several envoys, officials said, reviving a practice of the Clinton administration, when Richard C. Holbrooke, Dennis Ross and other diplomats played a central role in mediating disputes in the Balkans and the Middle East.

As Mrs. Clinton puts together her senior team, officials said, she is also trying to carve out a bigger role for the State Department in economic affairs, where the Treasury has dominated during the Bush years. She has sought advice from Laura D’Andrea Tyson, an economist who headed Mr. Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers.
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Given Mrs. Clinton’s prominence, expanding the department’s portfolio could bring on conflict with other powerful cabinet members.
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The Bush administration has made relatively little use of special envoys. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has personally handled most peacemaking initiatives, which has meant a punishing schedule of Middle East missions, often with meager results.

“There’s no question that there is a reinvention of the wheel here,” said Aaron David
Miller, a public policy analyst at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. “But it’s geared not so much as a reaction to Bush as to a fairly astute analysis of what’s going to work in foreign policy.”

With so many problems, including Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, Mr. Miller said it made sense for the White House to farm out some of the diplomatic heavy lifting.
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The recruitment of Mr. Lew — for a position that was not filled in the Bush administration — suggests that Mrs. Clinton is determined to win a larger share of financial resources for the department.
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Mrs. Clinton was being supported in her push for more resources by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Mr. Obama’s incoming national security adviser, Gen. James L. Jones Jr.
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Mrs. Clinton’s push for a more vigorous economic team, one of her advisers said, stems from her conviction that the State Department needs to play a part in the recovery from the global financial crisis. Economic issues also underpin some of the most important diplomatic relationships, notably with China.
Reference Here>>

In a Barack Obama presidency (aka - Carter’s Second Term), it is always the best policy to follow the money.

As we can see in this report, money is expected to flow into the power pocketbook of a State Department headed by Hillary Clinton if she has her way in this building power grab.

If over these next couple of years, Hillary Clinton is able to pull off what is suggested in the New York Times report, the State Department may make this presidency - NOT an extension of the troubled policies of a Carter Administration, but an extension of a Clinton Administration … where attention to detail was farmed out and terrorism was allowed to flourish.

Six members of President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team for government operations worked in the Clinton administration, and one of them runs a consulting firm that has listed Freddie Mac as a client. Image Credit: AP

Obama’s Empty Suit Filled With Clinton Brain Trust

What happens when a junior Senator from Illinois campaigns on the themes of Hope and Change, with the thinnest of resume’s and record of accomplishment has to fill a branch, the Executive Branch of government and its’ staff, assumes the highest office in the land?

Why one fills the positions with the staff appointed during the previous presidency held by the political party you come from … in this case, the Bill Clinton 42nd Presidency.

Where is the Hope? Where is the Change?

Of the names being placed for the 47 top positions of the executive branch, 31 of the names were people who served with Bill Clinton whose eight year presidency ended eight years ago.

Where is the shiny? Where is the new? Where is the fresh?

This excerpted and edited from Politico –

The Clinton band is back together
By BEN SMITH & CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN | 11/14/08 4:48 AM EST

As one Clinton loyalist noted with some satisfaction (if anonymously) on Thursday, Podesta’s role in the transition, and the new prominence of Clinton administration officials, suggests that Obama has absorbed one of Hillary Clinton's talking points: That it takes experience to make change happen.

Thirty-one of the 47 people so far named to transition or staff posts have ties to the Clinton administration, including all but one of the members of his 12-person Transition Advisory Board and both of his White House staff choices.
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The highest-ranking member of the group with deep ties to both Clinton and Obama is [Rahm] Emanuel, a Chicagoan who is very close to Obama and his chief strategist, David Axelrod.

Though the transition is still young, former Clintonites say they feel a change in the atmosphere.

"It's heartening to see that that was just primary rhetoric," said a former Clinton aide of Obama's criticism of Clinton's administration.
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Soon after the primary, top Clinton policy aides, such as economic adviser Gene Sperling, were quietly integrated into Obama's campaign. The only member of Clinton's inner circle to join Obama's campaign staff was her policy director, Neera Tanden.

A campaign's policy shop feeds the bulk of a new administration's appointments: Most of the key positions on White House staff and in executive agencies are policy posts.

But while the Clinton policy shop may feel like the gang is getting back together, the political team has yet to be invited in.

Said one former Clinton campaign aide, "Obama has clearly made a distinction between the small group of Clinton campaign staff, who clearly aren't much welcome, and the large number of Clinton White House personnel who are."
Reference Here>>

With the announcement of Eric Holder being considered for the position of Attorney General, apparently expediency over judgment is the dividing hallmark of which former Clinton White House personnel are welcome (see Marc Rich pardon at end of the Clinton Presidency).

This is the reason why placing someone with previous executive experience (ideally within a construct of civic or state politics) is preferred to bringing a fresh approach to Washington politics than a Senator, any Senator, because the candidate who wins the election for president would staff the “new” executive branch with people who are competent in the workings of an executive effort but from OUTSIDE Washington without the legacy to the way thing were done before.

Where is the shiny? Where is the new? Where is the fresh? Where is the Hope? Where is the Change?

With Barack Obama and the personnel he is picking … it’s SAME-O, SAME-O!

It's going to be a real fun Carter's Second Term with a heavy spice of Clinton thrown in for good measure.