Burying the Clintons, Part II

America Wants to Know is flying to Chicago this week, so go ahead and start those rumors that we're being considered for the post of Secretary of State.

We might be giving President-elect Obama too much credit for Machiavellian genius, but we think we're witnessing the most elegant destruction of an opponent since Errol Flynn gave up fencing.

The Associated Press is reporting today that Senator Hillary Clinton has hired a team of super-lawyers to "help" President-elect Obama vet her for the job of Secretary of State.

"Attorneys Cheryl Mills, David Kendall and Robert Barnett are working with the Obama transition team to review information about the Clintons' background and finances, including Bill Clinton's post-presidential business deals and relationships with foreign governments," AP's Beth Fouhy writes, "All three represented the Clintons on legal matters in the White House, including President Clinton's dalliance with intern Monica Lewinsky that led to his impeachment in 1998."

Now, ask yourself why it takes three attorneys to screw in this light bulb.

Because it's not the light bulb that's getting screwed.

If former President Clinton wanted to turn over the records of his post-presidential financial dealings, he could turn over the records of his post-presidential financial dealings.

As he made very clear during the primaries, he doesn't want to turn over the records of his post-presidential financial dealings.

But President-elect Obama dangled the job of Secretary of State in front of Senator Clinton's blue contact lenses and she got so excited that she gushed about it at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards on Monday, November 10th, three days before Andrea Mitchell of NBC News broke the story that "two sources in the Obama camp say Hillary Clinton is under consideration to become the next Secretary of State."

According to the New York Daily News, Senator Clinton told the audience at the awards, "I was privileged to run for president. Someone asked me the other day, if you knew how it was all going to turn out, would you do it all over again? I said absolutely. Whether it's standing up for women who have been denied their rights or being the Secretary of State and carrying the burden of that office, there are so many ways each of us can make a difference. It may be small but it adds up over time."

If there was a museum for false humility, that priceless masterpiece would have its own gallery.

President Clinton said a few things about Barack Obama during the primary campaign, and again during the general election campaign, that the president-elect may not have appreciated. For instance, just before the election, President Clinton told a crowd in Florida that Senator Obama had called Senator Clinton to ask her to explain the financial crisis to him, because he wanted to understand it.

Senator Obama didn't appear to have any reaction to it at the time.

He was just as cool as cool can be.

But now he has raised the possibility that Senator Clinton could be Secretary Clinton, flying around the world like a queen instead of commuting between New York and Washington, meeting with heads of state at peace conferences instead of posing with dairy cows at state fairs, the CEO of a huge worldwide bureaucracy instead of the forever junior senator from New York.

She really wants it. The Guardian of London reported Monday that she "plans to accept the job."

However, there's a serious risk of conflict of interest because her husband has accepted secret donations to his library and foundation from foreign governments and individuals that might seek to influence U.S. foreign policy and contracting.

So before Hillary Clinton can be nominated as Secretary of State, her husband has to be put through a financial rectal exam.

No doubt the Clinton lawyers are fighting as hard as they can to limit the probe.

That means in addition to enduring the exam, President Clinton is once again paying astronomical legal fees for the privilege.

What else can he do? Tell his wife he's going to stand in the way of her ambitions?

That won't end well.

No, he'll have to allow the Obama team to probe his financial entrails. Then he'll have to seethe in silence as the juicy bits start to leak out and President Clinton's carefully crafted image as a post-presidential statesman is exposed as the same old cash-for-favors racket he ran back in the days of White House coffees.

And that's when President-elect Obama will name somebody else to be Secretary of State.

Elegant, isn't it?

Errol Flynn would be very impressed.


Copyright 2008

Editor's note: You might be interested in the January 2008 post, "Burying the Clintons," in the July 2008 post, "Obama's big move," and in the recent post, "Hillary Clinton considered for post of Tooth Fairy."

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