# Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 14, 2008, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-as-secretary-of-state/472665 "2008-11-14T04:13:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![hdc\_bst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/9f8e36/32.png) [@hdc\_bst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hdc_bst)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-as-secretary-of-state/472665/141 "2008-11-18T22:23:08Z")
> [@Oy](#): > > **Airman** , I’m not saying military personnel don’t feel the way you say, because if you say lots of them do, I can only believe you. Certainly the one I know does. But I have trouble understanding why, other than that Lee Atwater and his successors have whipped them up. I mean, an awful lot of presidents never served in the military, and both W and Cheney sure didn’t cover themselves with glory on that front, and they have treated the military much worse than Clinton ever did. Is there a rational reason why the military would dislike Clinton, or is this just the manipulation of patriotism to garner favor and generate Democrat-hatred that the right wing has done so successfully over the past twenty years? I would like you to think through your knee-jerk and tell me beyond a “I just don’t trust that bastard,” or even that you disagree with his fiscal policy. I’m asking why members of the military in particular would dislike him, and presumably they’re mixed when it comes to fiscal policy. During the Clinton presidency there was a significant reduction in manpower across the armed forces as well as several rounds of BRAC. I haven’t looked up total defense spending, but I believe that may have dropped as well. However, I see much wider and more vocal scorn for Hillary in soldiers than for Bill. This may in some cases be due to particular statements she’s made, or positions she’s held, but I believe that many cases are knee-jerk conservative dislike. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-as-secretary-of-state/472665/142 "2008-11-18T23:25:54Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > They reported that probably 24 hours ago, since the free paper I read this morning had the same story- attributed to the Guardian. Nobody else seems to be following them on this story, which makes me doubt its reliability. While they may be giving her a serious look, I doubt any decision has been made. You’d think it would take longer than that to sort through the donors to Clinton’s foundation and make a decision on whether any of them represent conflicts of interest. I read somewhere (Newsweek I think) that Hillary told Obama that she did not want to go through the vetting process if he wasn’t going to pick her. So in light of that, the fact that she is willing to go through it now tells me she wants the job. All that is left now is to finish the vetting to see if there is anything really horrendous that she’s hiding that could potentially derail the Obama’s agenda. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-as-secretary-of-state/472665/143 "2008-11-18T23:41:31Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > I read somewhere (Newsweek I think) that Hillary told Obama that she did not want to go through the vetting process if he wasn’t going to pick her. So in light of that, the fact that she is willing to go through it now tells me she wants the job. I wouldn’t be surprised if she did want it. But we don’t know if he’s offered, as opposed to gauging her interest, and with whatever issues they have to sort through I doubt any decision has been made. She was never going to be his Vice President, so that was a different situation. In this case it sounds like he’s at least considering her. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-clinton-as-secretary-of-state/472665.md?page=7)