THE HILLARY THING

Posted at 6:55 p.m. ET

Clearly the most intriguing political story of the day is about Hillary Clinton possibly becoming secretary of state.  There is no doubt that this is serious.  No one is denying that it could happen.  Martha Raddatz of ABC has a report.  I stress that this has not been confirmed, but she's a pretty decent reporter:

ABC News' Martha Raddatz reports: President-elect Barack Obama met with Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Thursday in Chicago to discuss the possibility of the senator becoming secretary of state.

A source with knowledge of the transition process describes the meeting as not a hard offer. Obama is more cautious than that.

He is doing this more elegantly, but a source said Obama took a big step toward Hillary.

Of course he did.  She wasn't flying out to Chicago to chat about old times.  Like international summit conferences, these things are worked out in advance.

He was extremely respectful, saying she was great, and giving her a huge amount of support. He said that he knew how much she cared about health care but said there are other challenges, and wanted to reach out to her about secretary of state.

I've always loved that term, "reach out."  What does that mean?  In this case, it means a blood oath, as noted:

Obama does not want to be seen as being rejected by her, but it is “hers to turn down,” one source put it.

They have an agreement to have another meeting or phone conversation about this very soon.

Of course she could turn him down.  But then she becomes the bad girl of the party, humiliating the new president.  So Obama wins both ways.  If Clinton takes the job, he eliminates a rival power center.  If she rejects him, she's the sore loser who won't help. 

Smart politics on his part.

November 14, 2008.