Henry Srebrnik, [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian
Even after he bested her for the Democratic
Party nomination for president in 2008, Barack Obama knew Hillary Clinton would
want another shot at the top job after he left office.
So for the past eight years, he’s been clearing the deck for her, beefing up her already extensive resumé by appointing her secretary of state in 2009. (Now everybody calls her “Secretary Clinton” when she’s mentioned on television during the current campaign.)
Obama has also provided many hints that he backs her against Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, virtually the only person who dared oppose her in the current primary contests. A Clinton victory would serve as an unofficial “third term” for the president.
Obama has dropped hints that he prefers someone with the pragmatic ability to get things done without promising too much. He has also made it clear he thinks Clinton is very qualified.
There is, I’m sure, an unspoken quid pro quo in this. Should she become president, Clinton will make sure Obama has a successful “post-presidency.” He’s still a young man and retirement is probably not in the cards for him.
Perhaps he’d like to cap his career by becoming secretary-general of the United Nations – a perfect job for a liberal cosmopolitan like Obama. The backing of a newly-elected American president would probably ensure him the job.
In the meantime, Clinton has undoubtedly helped Obama to acquire temporary post-White House digs.
Obama and his family plan to move to a mansion in the upscale Kalorama neighbourhood of Washington until daughter Sasha completes high school, according to a May 25 article by Julie Hirschfeld Davis in the Washington Post.
The Clinton fingerprints are all over this.
They will rent an 8,200-square-foot, nine-bedroom home valued around six million dollars, with an estimated monthly rent of $22,000. It is owned by Joe Lockhart, a former press secretary and senior adviser to Bill Clinton.
The Obamas will live down the block from the embassy of Oman and from the European Union’s ambassador to the United States.
“It’s a very quiet neighborhood; that’s part of the reason why all of us like it there,” said Tony Podesta, a well-connected Democratic lobbyist and brother of John D. Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair.
“Podesta, who lives two doors from the house the Obamas will rent, invites neighbors for pizza parties in his backyard,” writes Davis. “Several times a day, a line of parked taxis snakes down the street, their occupants drawn to the Islamic Center on the block for Muslim prayers.”
You might ask how two political apparatchiks, who are neither manufacturers nor entrepreneurs, managed to acquire the kind of money necessary to live in this posh neighbourhood. (I worked in Washington in the 1980s and know the area; very few people in Canada could afford it.)
Clearly, influence peddling, for that’s what lobbyists do, is a lucrative way of making a living.
So for the past eight years, he’s been clearing the deck for her, beefing up her already extensive resumé by appointing her secretary of state in 2009. (Now everybody calls her “Secretary Clinton” when she’s mentioned on television during the current campaign.)
Obama has also provided many hints that he backs her against Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, virtually the only person who dared oppose her in the current primary contests. A Clinton victory would serve as an unofficial “third term” for the president.
Obama has dropped hints that he prefers someone with the pragmatic ability to get things done without promising too much. He has also made it clear he thinks Clinton is very qualified.
There is, I’m sure, an unspoken quid pro quo in this. Should she become president, Clinton will make sure Obama has a successful “post-presidency.” He’s still a young man and retirement is probably not in the cards for him.
Perhaps he’d like to cap his career by becoming secretary-general of the United Nations – a perfect job for a liberal cosmopolitan like Obama. The backing of a newly-elected American president would probably ensure him the job.
In the meantime, Clinton has undoubtedly helped Obama to acquire temporary post-White House digs.
Obama and his family plan to move to a mansion in the upscale Kalorama neighbourhood of Washington until daughter Sasha completes high school, according to a May 25 article by Julie Hirschfeld Davis in the Washington Post.
The Clinton fingerprints are all over this.
They will rent an 8,200-square-foot, nine-bedroom home valued around six million dollars, with an estimated monthly rent of $22,000. It is owned by Joe Lockhart, a former press secretary and senior adviser to Bill Clinton.
The Obamas will live down the block from the embassy of Oman and from the European Union’s ambassador to the United States.
“It’s a very quiet neighborhood; that’s part of the reason why all of us like it there,” said Tony Podesta, a well-connected Democratic lobbyist and brother of John D. Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair.
“Podesta, who lives two doors from the house the Obamas will rent, invites neighbors for pizza parties in his backyard,” writes Davis. “Several times a day, a line of parked taxis snakes down the street, their occupants drawn to the Islamic Center on the block for Muslim prayers.”
You might ask how two political apparatchiks, who are neither manufacturers nor entrepreneurs, managed to acquire the kind of money necessary to live in this posh neighbourhood. (I worked in Washington in the 1980s and know the area; very few people in Canada could afford it.)
Clearly, influence peddling, for that’s what lobbyists do, is a lucrative way of making a living.
With their Clinton Foundation and ancillary
consulting firms, the Clintons, in the words of former New York Times reporter
Judith Miller, are running a global “empire.”
Their constellation of related charities has raised $2 billion, employs more than 2,000 loyal devotees, and has a combined annual budget of more than $223 million.
Writer Peter Schweizer has delved into their finances in his 2015 book Clinton Cash, now the basis of a documentary. He describes the connection between the Clintons’ personal fortune, their Foundation, and large donations from foreign nations seeking favours from America.
The Foundation has been charged with being a vessel for Bill and Hillary Clinton’s political ambitions, acting as a home for the couple’s political allies and as a conduit for dubious contributions.
If Hillary Clinton reaches the White House, will Barack Obama become another one of their retainers?
Their constellation of related charities has raised $2 billion, employs more than 2,000 loyal devotees, and has a combined annual budget of more than $223 million.
Writer Peter Schweizer has delved into their finances in his 2015 book Clinton Cash, now the basis of a documentary. He describes the connection between the Clintons’ personal fortune, their Foundation, and large donations from foreign nations seeking favours from America.
The Foundation has been charged with being a vessel for Bill and Hillary Clinton’s political ambitions, acting as a home for the couple’s political allies and as a conduit for dubious contributions.
If Hillary Clinton reaches the White House, will Barack Obama become another one of their retainers?
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