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Is Clinton Headed To Cabinet?

Barack Obama recently met with Sen. Hillary Clinton which has many speculating that he will offer her the Secretary Of State cabinet position. Bob Schieffer analyzes the rumors.

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But Hillary Clinton's presence in Obama's Cabinet would mark a shift in the kind of relationship that presidents have traditionally shared with predecessors who maintained a high profile.

Occupants of the Oval Office tend to keep former presidents at arm's length, sometimes turning to them occasionally to play roles such as special emissary during international disasters or humanitarian crises. President Bush asked both his father and Clinton to raise relief money after the Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. Bill Clinton, as president, enlisted predecessors to advocate for the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Former president Jimmy Carter was a thorn in the side of George W. Bush, traveling to Syria, Cuba and the Middle East to meet with leaders despite complaints from the White House.

"You want to be able to determine when you are going to make use of a former president in terms of foreign policy or trying to help on particular issues. That can be a very powerful tool if it's used well," Panetta said. "It has to be used with discretion. The last thing you want is to have a former president be a rogue."

Some foreign policy experts said seeking to exploit Bill Clinton's reach and experience could prove a mistake.

"They might be tempted to use him in the Middle East. That wouldn't be a wise thing to do," said Charles Hill, a Yale professor who served several secretaries of state. "It's too American. It's too visible. That's a danger that the Obama team has to face and deal with."

Hill said there is also the danger that the former president's constant presence could lead some world leaders to question the authority of the new president.

"He's got to maintain his stature. He should not want Bill Clinton getting all the ink. Or Hillary Clinton," Hill said. Selecting Hillary Clinton to serve, he said, would violate one of the cardinal rules of foreign policy: "Secretaries of state don't deal with ex-presidents. And if they do, the White House raps their knuckles."

For his part, Bill Clinton said last night that his wife would be "a great secretary of state." Speaking in Kuwait City before an international audience of economists and politicians gathered by the National Bank of Kuwait, Clinton said that if Obama "decided to ask her and they did it together, I think she'll be really great as a secretary of state," Agence France-Presse reported. He said he did not know whether she had discussed the post with Obama's camp.

Hillary Clinton would not discuss the matter Friday, saying in Albany, N.Y.: "I'm not going to speculate or address anything about the president-elect's incoming administration. I'm going to respect his process."

By taking the Cabinet post, Hillary Clinton would also force new scrutiny of her husband's charitable activities and his private financial dealings. Bill Clinton has raised millions of dollars for his foundation but has declined to publicly disclose its benefactors. Likewise, most of the donors who helped bankroll his presidential library in Little Rock have never been disclosed.

"It certainly is likely to sharpen the scrutiny that the press and critics will give to the types of things he does in raising the money," said Joel L. Fleishman, a philanthropy expert and professor of law and public policy at Duke University. Fleishman added that "her being secretary of state would tend to raise the scrutiny."