elect Barack Obama is considering naming former first lady Hillary Clinton, his one-time rival for the White House, as his secretary of state, NBC News reported late Thursday. Two unnamed Obama advisers told the network that Clinton, now a senator for New York, “is under consideration” for the post. According to NBC, Clinton flew to Chicago – where Obama isbased – on Thursday, but an adviser said it was on personalbusiness. Clinton, 61, has extensive foreign policy experience from her time in the Senate, where she serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and indirectly when her husband Bill Clinton was president from 1993 to 2001. Several big names have been mentioned in the press as possible Obama secretaries of state, including another former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, New Mexico governor and former UN ambassador Bill Richardson, a favorite of the powerful Latino community; and moderate Republican Senator Richard Lugar. The Obama transition team has not said publicly who may be under consideration for cabinet positions, but has insisted no announcements would be made this week. During the bruising Democratic presidential primary Clinton tore into Obama's lack of foreign policy experience, describing some of his proposals such as talking to Iran as “naive.” Obama in turn constantly reminded voters that Clinton approved legislation authorizing President George W. Bush to invade Iraq, a vote she never publicly rejected. Once Clinton lost the Democratic presidential nomination, the former first lady campaigned fiercely for Obama. She was asked at a New York event on Monday if she would consider taking a position in the Obama administration. “I am happy being a senator from New York, I love this state and this city,” Clinton said, according to CNN. “I am looking at the long list of things I have to catch up on and do. But I want to be a good partner and I want to do everything I can to make sure his agenda is going to be successful,” Clinton said. Meanwhile, Vice President-elect Joe Biden was all smiles when he paid a courtesy call the man he will succeed, Dick Cheney. But he has insisted he wants to be nothing like him. Biden has called Cheney “the most dangerous vice president we've had probably in American history” and said he couldn't name a single good thing Cheney had done. But even if he won't acknowledge any similarities, there's one way that Biden wants to be like Cheney – a strong partner in governing the country. Biden is proving to be a hands-on No. 2 to President-elect Barack Obama. He is carving out his own niche, specializing in foreign affairs, his area of expertise for decades in the Senate, and sticking close to Obama.
