Clinton being eyed for State Dept
US President-elect Barack Obama has met his former rival for the Democratic nomination, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, and is considering her as a possible candidate for secretary of state, Democratic officials said.
Clinton was rumored to be a contender for the job last week, but the talk died down as party activists questioned whether she was best-suited to be the top US diplomat in an Obama administration.
The talk resumed on Thursday, a day after Obama named several former aides to President Bill Clinton to help run his transition effort.
A Democratic official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information, said the two met on Thursday afternoon in Obama's Chicago office.
Clinton's motorcade - she receives Secret Service protection as a former first lady - was seen leaving the office complex shortly before Obama left for the day. Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines would say only "Senator Clinton had no public schedule yesterday," and referred questions to the Obama transition team, which said it had no comment.
Clinton pushed Obama hard during the campaign, and was rumored to be a possible pick for vice-president after she lost the nomination to the young Illinois senator. Obama instead chose veteran Senator Joe Biden as his running mate, prompting speculation that, among other reasons, he didn't want to be saddled with Clinton's restless husband, former President Bill Clinton.
In his first two weeks as president-elect, Obama has struck a bipartisan tone. He paired a Republican and a Democrat to meet with foreign leaders this weekend on his behalf in Washington, for example, and on Friday his transition office announced Obama would meet vanquished Republican rival John McCain on Monday.
The meeting will be the first since Obama, the Democratic Illinois senator, beat McCain, an Arizona senator, by an Electoral College landslide in the Nov 4 election.
"It's well known that they share an important belief that Americans want and deserve a more effective and efficient government, and will discuss ways to work together to make that a reality," Obama spokesman Stephanie Cutter said in announcing the meeting.
Agencies
(China Daily 11/15/2008 page11)
