President-elect Barack Obama will stand with Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) tomorrow and announce that Sen. Clinton will serve as his Secretary of State after reaching a deal with former President Bill Clinton over the former president's charity work.
Officials: Obama set to introduce Clinton Monday
A deal with Bill Clinton over his post-White House work helped clear the way for Hillary Rodham Clinton to join President-elect Barack Obama's national security team as secretary of state, reshaping a once-bitter rivalry into a high-profile strategic and diplomatic union.
Obama was to be joined by the New York senator at a Chicago news conference Monday, Democratic officials said, where he also planned to announce that Defense Secretary Robert Gates would remain in his job for a year or more and that retired Marine General James M. Jones would serve as national security adviser.
According to the AP report, Bill Clinton agreed to do the following:
- to disclose the names of every contributor to his foundation since its inception in 1997 and all contributors going forward.
- to refuse donations from foreign governments to the Clinton Global Initiative, his annual charitable conference.
- to cease holding CGI meetings overseas.
- to volunteer to step away from day-to-day management of the foundation while his wife is secretary of state.
- to submit his speaking schedule to review by the State Department and White House counsel.
- to submit any new sources of income to a similar ethical review.
It is a price to pay for President Clinton, but with his wife as Secretary of State, that will keep the Clintons in the spotlight.
This was a very smart choice by Obama. Hillary Clinton will bring a prominent figure to the State Department and be a strong representative for us abroad.
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