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Hillary to resign from Senate, say aides

WASHINGTON: U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has decided to give up her Senate seat to become Secretary of State in President-elect Barack Obama’s administration, making her the public face to the world for the man who dashed her own hopes for the presidency, said Ms. Clinton’s confidants on Friday.

The accord between the two leading figures of the Democratic Party was the culmination of a week-long drama. Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton fought perhaps the most polarising nomination battle in decades, but in recruiting her for his Cabinet, Mr. Obama chose to turn a rival into a partner, and she concluded she could have a greater impact by saying accepting the post than by remaining in the Senate.

Her selection is still to be formalised and will not be announced until after Thanksgiving. It would be yet another direction in the unlikely journey of a former political spouse in Arkansas who went on to build a political base of her own and become a symbol of achievement to many women.

The role, though a supporting one, would make her one of the most influential players on the international stage, and it would represent at least one more act for one of the nation’s most prominent public families, as the former U.S. President, Bill Clinton, would also become an ad hoc member of the Obama team.

The sometimes awkward dance between Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton in the eight days since he invited her to Chicago for a meeting culminated in a telephone call on Thursday. Before the call, she was sceptical about the prospect of joining the Cabinet, said her confidants. But Mr. Obama addressed her concerns about access, personnel and other issues, leading her to conclude she should take the job, they said.

“She’s ready,” one of Ms. Clinton’s confidants said. The first meeting in Chicago “was so general” that she needed to have a better sense of how she would fit into Mr. Obama’s administration, and the call helped her “just getting comfortable” with the idea of working together, said the confidant.

Mr. Obama’s advisers said that although no offer had been formally accepted, her nomination was “on track” and would probably be announced after the holiday. Ms. Clinton’s Senate office broke a week of silence to acknowledge the talks but cautioned that they had not been made final. “We’re still in discussions, which are very much on track,” said her spokesman, Philippe Reines. The choice of Ms. Clinton pleased many in the Democratic establishment who admire her strength and skills, and they praised Mr. Obama for putting the rancour of the campaign behind him. “Senator Clinton is a naturally gifted diplomat and would be an inspired choice if she is chosen by President-elect Obama as Secretary of State,’ said Warren Christopher, who held that job under President Clinton.

Advisers said Mr. Obama concluded after the election that the problems confronting the nation were so serious that he needed Ms. Clinton’s stature and capabilities as part of his team, notwithstanding their past differences. The bitterness that inhabited the Obama team for much of the year has faded with time, said advisers.

And many of the aides working on the transition with Mr. Obama are not campaign veterans with scars from the primaries, but rather former Clinton administration officials like Rahm Emanuel, the incoming White House chief of staff, and John D. Podesta, the transition co-chairman, who admire Ms. Clinton.

For Ms. Clinton, becoming Secretary of State would require her to sacrifice the independence that has come with a Senate seat and the 18 million votes she collected in the primaries and caucuses. — New York Times News Service

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