Madame Secretary?

Now that the election is over, we political junkies have turned to Cabinet post predictions to get our speculative fix. And the biggest names being bandied about have been in regards to the position of Secretary of State--with Gov. Bill Richardson and Sens. John Kerry and Chuck Hagel coming up the most, each having shown loyalty by either endorsing Obama early (in Richardson's and Kerry's cases) or not endorsing their party's nominee (in the case of Hagel, whose foreign policy I tend to like). But now, lo and behold, a bigger name has emerged--one Sen. Hillary Clinton, or so the reports would have us believe:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is among the candidates that President-elect Barack Obama is considering for secretary of state, according to two Democratic officials in close contact with the Obama transition team.

First, I have to believe this is true. For one, the Obama team has been very particular about their leaks so far during the transition. I don't think they'd let this leak out unintentionally--especially because they wouldn't want to risk pissing off the Hillary fans once more.

Second, were this to really happen, it could be a genius move on the part of the Democrats. Let's not forget that the Secretary of State position--not Vice President--used to be the stepping stone for the presidency back in the day (ok, this may have been way back in the day, but still) Those Clinton supporters still seething that Hillary was left off the ticket (if there are any, let's not forget Obama did pretty well last week) should be soothed. This would be a much better gig for Hillary than the Supreme Court (that would not be a pretty nomination fight, even if the Dems have a comfortable lead in the Senate) and we all know she really wants to be president anyway. So now, she can have a high profile gig at state for four or eight years and then run as the successor to Obama (Biden, like Cheney in 08, will not be a viable candidate in 2016. Or, another option--and one I suspected before this SoS rumor popped up--would be to sub in Hillary as veep in 2012. Biden's experience would no longer be necessary, and it would be another way to set up Hillary as successor. A lot could happen between now and then, but I wouldn't put it past Clinton and Obama to have this planned out...

For more, as always, Marc Ambinder has the details.