IF YOU WANT A "DREAM TEAM" CABINET, HILLARY WOULD BE THE CORNERSTONE

She's tough, she's a fighter, she's experienced, a first class lawyer, a tireless worker, and almost always the smartest person in the room. Who is she? SHE'S BACK!!

Hillary Clinton, the junior Senator from New York has been leaked as on the short list for Secretary of State for the Obama administration.

Why is this a wise move? She already has positioned herself as the unofficial leader of the Senate committee on Armed Services, the one person who truly put the Pentagon officials through their paces, especially on the availability of an Iraqi exit strategy. And while the Clinton name may have lost some blue book value domestically, the Clinton name adds an immediate cache and instant credibility to the state department in the eyes of the world. And that is most certainly "change" by any definition.

Needless to say, with her senate terms, and the eight years in the White House, she is already on a first name basis with the majority of world leaders out there, and that is huge. And, she shares a basic world vision with President-elect Obama, except for his debate gaffe of offering to talk to any foreign leader without pre-conditions, a stand he quickly backed away from.

While the Obama transition staff has admitted asking her if she is interested, they have leaked the rest of the short list for the cabinets top spot; Bill Richardson (former Clinton staffer and ambassador to the United Nations), Tom Daschle (majority leader) and John Kerry (Senator and former democratic presidential candidate), although sources have reported that Clinton walked away from the meeting under the impression that it was hers for the taking, should she be interested.

Could the Obama team possibly be so cruel and spiteful to Hillary that they would leak her meeting with Obama for the job, only to be publicly rejected, especially for Bill Richardson, who spit in the Clinton families eye when he came out for Obama during the late stages of the primary season? Time, of course will tell, but if he did, Obama will lose at least fifteen points to his favorables rating before even getting his hand close to the Bible. Clinton supporters, still slightly hostile towards the primary outcome, would not stand for it.

And while they certainly had their moments during the primary, he owes her plenty. For one thing, she vetted him during the primaries to within an inch of his political life. By the time John McCain got to him, he had no bullets. Just some very casual relationships with some unsavory characters like Bill Ayres, which got no traction whatsoever on the Teflon coated senator from Illinois. For another thing, no one, but no one, campaigned harder for him than Hillary Clinton, especially in Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa and New York, which he carried with ease.

Obama had been quoted as saying he wanted to fill up a "Lincolnesque" cabinet (A Team of Rivals), which would include members with dissenting opinions to him, and with different party affiliations from him. What is the old saying....keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer? Certain applies, but I like the Jon Meacham quote...."it's better to have someone inside the tent pissing out, than an enemy outside of the tent pissing in."