Round-Up of Reaction and Analysis on Obama’s National Security Team

By picking Clinton, Obama may be making some kind of special political play, removing one of his rivals to protect himself from political harm, but I think he’s more serious than that. There’s been no evidence over the last two years that he engages in this kind of overly clever bank shot. It’s more likely he’s picked Clinton because she’s smart and because he wants to surround himself with people who will challenge him.

American Conservative: Clinton Cabinet

So ascendant are the Clintonistas that it’s hard to believe Hillary lost. Far from generating a panic, however, their restoration has drawn sighs of relief from certain quarters. The new commander in chief--at least for now--seems more interested in massaging the status quo than in remaking the town in his own, still murky image.

Los Angeles Times: Clinton’s Potential Pitfalls Seen in FDR’s Secretary of State

Cordell Hull was a veteran lawmaker with a worldwide reputation when Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him secretary of State in 1933, in part to win needed support from Hull’s army of Democratic admirers. But the dignified Tennessean was never close to FDR. As time passed, he was “muscled out by others in the administration,” said Michael Hunt, a diplomatic historian at the University of North Carolina.

Chicago Tribune: Will Clinton Be Obama’s Frenemy of State?

From all outward appearances, Clinton and Obama have made peace. Yet they were rivals in the most protracted presidential primary in history, and that battle is certain to tint her arrival in the administration.

Daily Beast: Republicans for Hillary!

Neocons, right-wing scribes, and impeachment managers are in rare agreement with Obama --Clinton is a great choice for Secretary of State. How to explain the generally positive take Republicans have on Clinton’s nomination? Her willingness to veer right in international policy.

Wall Street Journal: Clinton Faces a Familiar List of Overseas Problems

As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton would seek diplomatic solutions to problems her husband and President George W. Bush largely failed to solve, from North Korea’s nuclear program to the Arab-Israeli conflict and the U.S. standoff with Iran.

Washington Post: Ex-Marine Commander May Be Obama’s NSC Choice

During 40 years in the Marine Corps, James L. Jones, 64, rose from being a platoon and company commander in Vietnam to Marine commandant. In the international realm, he has served as supreme allied commander of NATO and as a special envoy for Middle East security. In the public policy arena, he has chaired the Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq, a congressionally appointed panel that assessed the readiness of Iraqi troops

Round-Up of Reaction and Analysis on Obama’s National Security Team

New York Times: Obama Tilts to Center, Inviting a Clash of Ideas

President-elect Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination with the enthusiastic support of the left wing of his party. Now, his reported selections for two of the major positions in his cabinet -- Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state and Timothy F. Geithner as secretary of the Treasury -- suggest that Mr. Obama is planning to govern from the center-right of his party, surrounding himself with pragmatists rather than ideologues.

Boston Globe: Will Lincoln’s “Team of Rivals” Play Today?

The president-elect is emulating his role model, Abraham Lincoln, who boldly put political adversaries in his Cabinet, hoping to forge a strong presidency through the heat of conflicting ideas. But historians argue that Lincoln’s model, described in the best-selling book “Team of Rivals,” by Doris Kearns Goodwin, is a high-risk strategy for Obama, one that could alienate his allies and sow dysfunction inside the White House.