Below The Beltway

Some of sharpest criticism of the idea of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State is coming from some of Barack Obama’s strongest supporters:

Barack Obama’s serious flirtation with his one-time rival, Hillary Clinton, over the post of secretary of State has been welcomed by everyone from Henry Kissinger to Bill Clinton as an effective, grand gesture by the president-elect.

It’s not playing quite as well, however, in some precincts of Obamaland. From his supporters on the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, to campaign aides of the soon-to-be commander-in-chief, there’s a sense of ambivalence about giving a top political plum to a woman they spent 18 months hammering as the compromised standard-bearer of an era that deserves to be forgotten.

“These are people who believe in this stuff more than Barack himself does,” said a Democrat close to Obama’s campaign. “These guys didn’t put together a campaign in order to turn the government over to the Clintons.”

An overlooked theme in Obama’s primary victory was his belief that the Clinton legacy was not, as the Clintons imagined, a pure political positive. The Obama campaign had no compunctions about poking holes in that legacy and even sent out mailings stressing the downside of the last “8 years of the Clintons” – enraging the former president in particular.

And the clearest opposition to the Clinton appointment comes from Obama’s backers on the left of his own party, whose initial support for him was motivated in part by a distaste for the Clinton dynasty, and who now view her reemergence with some dismay.

“There’s always a risk of a Cabinet member freelancing and that risk is enhanced by the fact that Hillary has her own public and her own celebrity and that she comes attached to Bill,” said Robert Kuttner, a Clinton critic and former American Prospect editor whose new book, Obama’s Challenge, implores the president-elect to adopt an expansive liberal agenda. “The other question is the old rule – never hire somebody you can’t fire. What happens if her views and his views don’t mesh?”

And the reaction among campaign insiders seems to be the same:

The wisdom of an Obama/Clinton team of rivals seems to be viewed with even more skepticism by the campaign’s rank and file. One Obama insider said that while Obama’s senior staff has come around to acknowledging the power of a Clinton choice, supporters have not.

“During the campaign there was a lot of agreement and correspondence about how the grassroots felt about the Clintons and how the Obama leadership felt,” he said. “There’s a bit of a divergence now. They’re confused that the guy they elected . . . because we need to go in a different direction on the world stage” might choose a secretary of state with whom he had some of his sharpest foreign policy disagreements during the primary campaign.

Obama’s blog network on My.BarackObama.com has been buzzing with both sides of the argument since hints emerged last week of a surprise Clinton choice. A representative heading: “no hillary for secretary of state why???”

More common inside Obama’s circle is a grasp of the effective politics, and a sense that she’d be good at the job – though that somewhat grudging acknowledgment doesn’t extend to a particularly warm
embrace of the defeated primary candidate.

“I can’t stand her – but I think she’s a great choice,” said another Obama insider.

Not a ringing endorsement, but an endorsement nonetheless.

The reaction of the rank-and-file, though, will be interesting to watch. It could be the beginning of the cold water of political reality being poured on their heads, and they’d better get used to it.