Vetting Bill and Hillary! Bill Clinton's Foreign Affairs Could Cost Hillary Cabinet Post ? Why does it matter what Bill does as long as he is honest?

Vetting Bill and Hillary!



Could former President Bill Clinton's charitable affairs cost Hillary Clinton the secretary of state job in Barack Obama's administration? That's what insiders are wondering after reports that the former president's financial and foreign entanglements could hurt the New York senator in her bid for a Cabinet post. Politico.com reported Monday that Democrats "are becoming exasperated" by Bill Clinton's response to requests for information about his finances. "The sense among the no-drama Obama world is: This is well on its way to winning best Oscar for drama," an unnamed Democrat told Politico.com.

Of worry, Politico.com said, is whether Clinton's charity would create a conflict of interest with foreign governments. The New York Times reported Sunday that lawyers from the Obama camp were looking into the former president's dealings with foreign governments and pharmaceutical companies. "Me I do not get it?" "I think certainly she's been vetted, he's been vetted; but let's remember it's her who's up for this appointment, not Bill Clinton," Brad Blakeman, a former deputy assistant to President George W. Bush, told FOX News. "I think they cleaned a lot up before she decided to run for president. "Certainly his activities going forward, if she is the secretary of state, would be curtailed, but I can't see any reason why Hillary Clinton would not be nominated by this president and certainly confirmed by a Democratic Senate," Blakeman said.

Bill Clinton, addressing a symposium at the National Bank of Kuwait on Sunday, spoke about the possibility of having his wife in the new administration. "If [Obama] decided to ask her and they did it together, I think she'll be really great as a secretary of state," Clinton said, according to an Agency France-Pressed report. "She worked very hard for his election after the primary fight with him, and so did I, and we were very glad that he won and we have a lot of confidence that he can do a good job," Clinton said. "But she didn't do what she did with the hope or expectation of getting any kind of job offer, much less having this discussed." Clinton said he didn't know if his wife was offered the post. News of a possible Secretary of State Clinton drew praise from both sides of the aisle. Former White House Special Counsel Lanny Davis told FOXNews.com that "she is strong and firm in her convictions and a great team player -- but she is also a great listener. "Most important, she has the rare ability to walk in other people's shoes and see the world through their eyes," Davis wrote Sunday on the FOX Forum. "That, to me, is an important quality in a secretary of state after eight years of this administration." Both Hillary Clinton, Obama's fiercest rival for the presidential nomination, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who also ran for the White House this year, were interviewed by Obama in Chicago last week for the post, according to Democratic officials. Could bill cost Hillary Secretary Of State Post?

Politico says the vetting of Bill Clinton is not going well. Obama "aides are becoming exasperated by the Clinton camp’s pokey response to demands for extensive information about former President Bill Clinton’s finances, according to numerous Democrats involved in the process. ‘The sense among the no-drama Obama world is: This is well on its way to winning best Oscar for drama,’ said one well-connected Democratic official.”

More: Democratic officials make it sound as if the job has been all but offered to Hillary Clinton. But the ball is in her court to show that the former president’s many foreign and financial entanglements would not pose huge conflicts of interest if she were the nation’s chief diplomat, the officials said." Channeling First Read, the Boston Globe notes the would-be irony if Obama were to pick Clinton to be secretary of state. "He would be giving her oversight of an area where the two former rivals diverged sharply during their prolonged primary battle: foreign policy… It is the one arena in which Obama and Clinton articulated significantly different visions." Bill's vetting not going well

As Therese Rein, wife of the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, had to give up aspects of her business, the former US president Bill Clinton may have to cease some of his activities for his wife, Hillary, to become the nation's top diplomat. "There is a lot of momentum in the direction of this happening," said James Carville, a friend of the Clintons. Mr. Carville said the former president's work - past and future - was a complicating matter. "She's not married to Todd Palin," he said, referring to the husband of the Republican vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin.

Barack Obama's transitional campaign office has confirmed it is vetting Mr. Clinton's business affairs, a sign that Senator Clinton is being considered for the job and, equally, that she is interested in taking it. As part of that process Mr. Clinton might have to disclose the names of contributors to the Clinton Global Fund, which funded his presidential library and work to combat AIDS around the world. The donor list has never been made public, but Mr. Clinton had promised to disclose it if Senator Clinton became president. Since leaving office eight years ago Mr. Clinton has reportedly raised more than $US500 million for the foundation, tapping foreign governments and reportedly soliciting funds from international business figures whom he helped introduce to less savory leaders around the world, such as the president of Kazakhstan, who granted uranium mining rights to one of Mr. Clinton's associates soon after meeting Mr. Clinton.

But the more pressing issues will be Mr. Clinton's other activities. For instance, would he be required to give up making speeches, to avoid the risk of contradicting his wife and US policy? Could he continue his AIDS and climate change work while avoiding potential conflicts with the Obama government? "She really has to sit down with her husband and work through: where does this leave him," said David Gergen, a political analyst for CNN who worked at the White House during the Clinton period. "After all, he's very deeply involved in the Clinton Global Initiative, doing good around the world. Could he continue to do that?" Bill may have to give up for Hillary to get in

* I understand the nuances of Politics but I do not understand why what Bill does matters to Obama and if it differs from what the White House wants or is doing as long as it is honest and above board? Even Carville a staunch Democrat has a wife that is a Republican and of course does not agree with him and that does not affect his views or actions though I do understand he is not in Obama's cabinet! I understand what Carville says but do not see why it matters whether you are talking Todd Palin or Bill Clinton as long as there is honesty as I do not see coming from Todd Palin regardless of who he is!

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com