by Charles Sumpter

Created on: January 28, 2009

Simply no. While qualified, Hillary Clinton could have been served better in the administration and so could have Bill Richardson. Now with Clinton confirmed, there is nothing else that can be done, and only time can tell how this will all play out. Sure, Hillary Clinton has the name recognition. She was after all the First Lady of an American President who presided over the country's most solid economic gain in history. She later went on to become Senator from New York; some would suggest with some hidden aspirations. However, once the election was over and Barack Obama had been elected, many questioned what will Hillary now do? Unlike most, I thought it be right for her to go back to the Senate and to represent the people of New York, my home state. If you listened closely, you could hear the pundits saying how could she go back to just being the junior Senator from New York after almost becoming President of the United States? Easily, it is her job. Furthermore, it is what she was elected to do.

What is becoming more apparent is that most of these elected officials care more about their personal aspirations than what they were set out to do originally, after all their day jobs are not that bad.
But Secretary of State? Health and Human Services maybe, but State? No. Throughout the campaign, I listened to Senator Clinton and I believed in her passion and rigor to change the health care system in this country; we saw this during the days of President Bill Clinton. Instead, We see that the transition team has selected Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle that post; now the confusion begins. How can Clinton have any effect on health care reform from Foggy Bottom as Secretary of State? Not much of any.
However, there is one person who is most qualified for this coveted cabinet position and that was New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. A veteran of the Clinton Administration, Richardson has quite an impressive resume. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for more than 14 years, and as the Energy Secretary. Richardson is also the first Latino candidate for the U.S. Presidency. If he was nominated to State, he could have been on track to becoming the nation's first Latino Secretary of State. Furthermore, Bill Richardson was also the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in 1997 where he represented the United States at UN proceedings and around the world. A perfect stepping stone to State.
Instead, we now see that Richardson was asked to be President Obama's Commerce Secretary. While an effective position, Richardson's appeal and illustrious commitment to public service would have better served our country if he were at the State Department. We later had to find out that Richardson gave up the designated position due to investigations of a contracting company back home in New Mexico.
This coming administration will truly be a party of rivals. Clinton, Richardson and Obama all vied for the Presidency at one point. For the betterment of our country, Now with Richardson fully out of the picture; we can only hope that they all can play nice.

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