Obama chooses Clinton for secretary of state

Associated Press

Monday, Dec. 1, 2008 | 8:21 a.m.

President-elect Barack Obama says he's chosen Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for secretary of state. Obama also announced he has asked Robert Gates to stay on as defense secretary, and has selected Janet Napolitano as secretary of homeland security and Eric Holder as attorney general.

President-elect Barack Obama is filling his Cabinet at record speed, choosing loyal friends and one-time foes to guide his wartime foreign policy decisions.

Obama also has settled on former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle to be his secretary of Health and Human Services and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to be Commerce secretary, but those announcements are not yet official. Last week, he named key members of his economic team, including Timothy Geithner, president of Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as Treasury secretary.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, asked about Clinton at a news conference in London, said Monday: "I think that she will bring enormous energy and intellect and skill to the position."

"Most important, I know her to be somebody who has what you need most in this job, which is a deep love for the United States of America," Rice said. She added, "As to advice, I'll give her that advice privately, and then she won't — and you won't — hear from me again."

The decisions mean Obama has half of the 15-member Cabinet assembled less than a month after the election, including the most prominent positions at State, Justice, Treasury and Defense. With the world grappling with war, recession and terrorist threats that erupted this week during coordinated attacks in India, Obama was moving swiftly to try to bring reassurance and continuity in the federal government when he takes over in less than two months.

Clinton's nomination is the latest chapter in what began as a bitter rivalry for the Democratic presidential nomination. To make it possible for his wife to become secretary of state, party officials said, former President Bill Clinton agreed to:

• Disclose the names of every contributor to his foundation since its inception in 1997 and all contributors going forward.

• Refuse donations from foreign governments to the Clinton Global Initiative, his annual charitable conference.

• Cease holding CGI meetings overseas.

• Volunteer to step away from day-to-day management of the foundation while his wife is secretary of state.

• Submit his speaking schedule to review by the State Department and White House counsel.

• Submit any new sources of income to a similar ethical review.

Sen. Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Sunday on ABC's "This Week" that he plans to vote to confirm Clinton.

Lugar said there would still be "legitimate questions" raised about the former president's extensive international involvement. "I don't know how, given all of our ethics standards now, anyone quite measures up to this who has such cosmic ties, but ... hopefully, this team of rivals will work," Lugar said.

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On the Net:

Obama transition: http://www.change.gov