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Clinton accepts secretary of state nomination

BY TOM BRUNE | tom.brune@newsday.com; Staff writer Juliann Vachon

December 2, 2008

WASHINGTON - Hillary Rodham Clinton said she's ready to leave New York and the Senate to return to the world stage after President-elect Barack Obama announced yesterday he would nominate his former political rival as his secretary of state.

If confirmed by the Senate, as expected, Clinton, 61, will take a lead role in the foreign policy and national security team that Obama introduced yesterday, a team most experts called experienced, pragmatic and centrist.

Accepting her widely expected nomination at the Chicago news conference where Obama made it official, Clinton said, "I will give this assignment, your administration and our country my all."

Clinton acknowledged her eight years as senator and thanked New Yorkers, but said the "best way to continue serving my country" would be to go to work for Obama in "what will be a difficult and exciting adventure in this new century."

With Clinton, Obama said he will change President George W. Bush's go-it-alone diplomacy to take on difficult and dangerous challenges, highlighted by the deadly attack in India.

"Hillary's appointment is a sign to friend and foe of the seriousness of my commitment to renew American diplomacy and restore our alliances," he said, saying he has "no doubt" she's right for the job.

The announcement was praised by Republicans and Democrats in Congress and by New York political leaders.

Sen. Charles Schumer called her "a terrific partner" and "a great friend" in the Senate.

Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) said Obama's surprise choice of former foe Clinton showed "a lot of guts and imagination." He said Republicans should be pleased: "This is a very right-of-center foreign policy team."

For Obama, the appointment harnesses for his administration a forceful personality known around the world while reining in a rival and perhaps winning over many of her supporters.

But it also adds drama, the potential for a clash of former rivals and the wild card of former President Bill Clinton. And it drew criticism from anti-war liberals, who condemned Hillary Clinton for voting for the Iraq war.

Obama and Clinton sought to downplay past differences.

When a reporter asked yesterday about barbs Obama and Clinton had traded belittling each other's foreign policy experience, Obama dismissed them as campaign rhetoric.

After the primaries, Obama said, he looked for ways to collaborate with Clinton, whom he introduced as "a friend, a colleague, a source of counsel and a tough campaign opponent."

For Clinton, taking the post was a hard decision, said friends, because she would be giving up her independence and leaving behind a Senate seat she had felt she had won on her own - twice.

But as secretary of state, she will return to the national and international platform she enjoyed as first lady in the 1990s.

Clinton will retain her Senate seat until she is confirmed, said adviser Philippe Reines.

Clinton thanked her constituents for helping prepare her for her new role. "After all," she said, "New Yorkers aren't afraid to speak their minds, and do so in every language."

Staff writer Juliann Vachon contributed to this story.

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