The Baumgarten Report

Next secretary of state?

Perhaps she sees her presidential hopes now dashed forever. Perhaps she’d consider the appointment.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, who the Obama campaign didn’t even vet as a possible running mate, is now, according to the Associated Press, being considered by the transition team as the president-elect’s secretary of state.

The selection of Clinton would certainly put a mark on the new president’s foreign policy goals. Like her husband, the former president, Clinton’s face is well recognized on the international diplomatic scene. She would come into the job as a known quantity. She already has relationships with many world leaders.

It’s interesting that her name has leaked out because, during the campaign, Obama managed to keep a tight lid on things. This could be a precursor to how this administration might not be so very much different from others once it takes office. Beltway media leaks are the rule, rather than the exception these days.

Two other former Democratic presidential candidates, John Kerry and Bill Richardson, are among those whose names have also been mentioned as possible choices for secretary of state.

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Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brentdanley/2174928201/

YOUNGSTOWN, OH – Politics dominates discourse in Ohio, a key swing state in this year’s presidential election.

At Rotellis Restaurant, first time voters Michele and Rebekah don’t agree on who they’ll vote for. But they do agree that they’re going to vote.

“I was really excited to vote,” Michele said of her opportunity to cast a ballot for Hillary Clinton in the primary.

“Me too,” added Rebekah, whose primary vote went for Ron Paul.

Michele isn’t certain who she will vote for, even though all of her peers, including her boyfriend, say they’ll vote for Barack Obama.

“I was for Hillary but now I’m undecided,” she says.

“I don’t like either of them.”

She says the negative campaigning is turning her off to both candidates.

“They bash each other all the time,” she says. “I don’t like negative people in general.”

Rebekah is also undecided. But she knows she will not vote for Obama.

“I just think he has a lot of empty promises,” she explains.

“He says a lot of vague things.”

What of Obama’s mantra of change?

“Change is inevitable,” says Rebekah. “It will happen anyway, on its own.”

Rebekah, whose brother is in the Army, is also disturbed by what she perceives as Obama’s lack of support for the military.

“My brother’s going there, to Iraq,” she says. Obama’s lack of military experience, she says, “has me worried.” She likes, however, McCain’s record of military service, which, she says, would serve the country well if he is elected president.

Carol, the restaurant manager, however, is solidly for Obama.

She likes that he was “very calm” during the last debate, never losing his composure. She says she found McCain’s demeanor off setting.

That’s the form. What about the substance?

“I don’t think either of them is telling the truth,” Carol says.

“I think both of them say what they think we want to hear.”

We’ll keep focused on Ohio for the next two days. News Talk Online will be live from Columbus on Monday and from Toledo on Tuesday at 5 PM New York time. CLICK HERE to join in the conversation.

Rove

Sometimes it’s hard to tell who one’s political friends and allies are and who are one’s real enemies.

Take former Bush administration political guru Karl Rove, for example, who attacked John McCain’s ads for their lack of truthfulness.

Then there’s Republican commentator Peggy Noonan, who, while she thought the microphones were off at while on the set of MSNBC at the GOP convention declared “it’s over” for the Republicans; a reference to Sarah Palin’s nomination.

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, a McCain adviser, said that McCain and Sarah Palin are not qualified to be CEOs.

Lynn Forester de Rothschild, who is on the Democratic National Committee’s Platform Committee and who supported Hillary Clinton is now backing John McCain.

Of course, so is Joe Lieberman, who once ran for vice-president as a Democrat.

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A better veep choice?

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