She will serve in the Obama administration for the next few years and not beyond that.
But all that didn't stop Blitzer from asking Clinton, again and again, if she has interest in any of Washington's top jobs.
"If the president is reelected, do you want to serve a second term as secretary of state?" Blitzer asked. "No," she said.
He continued. "Would you like to serve as secretary of defense?" "No."
"Would you like to be vice president of the United States" he prodded. "No," she answered, again.
Finally, Blitzer asked the big question: "Would you like to be president of the United States?" "No," she said.
Sounds like a two-year old.
"NO!"
I think a president who is absent during multiple international crisis's has her in a tight spot. She's going to share the international blame now that Gaddafi is winning back his country after stern words from her and the president
(but words only).
Last week it was golf, and this weekend, in the middle nuclear disaster in Japan, her boss is leaving for a vacation in Rio and a tour of South America is scheduled for next week.
Don't know if it's intensional, but the president keeps leaving her with a bag of spiders. If she's smart she will play the victim again to boost her political standing for a presidential run, but I think she is just tired. The administration is using her up.
Hillary in 2016! YOU BETCHA!
After yesterday's act by Iran, we may get to see the whole power-keg go up in flames.
Israel may very well strike Iran in the next few days.
We need some foreign policy.
Let's re-animate Jimmy Carter.
Iran has effectively offered Casus Belli.
Quote from: Gaspar on March 17, 2011, 12:09:18 PM
After yesterday's act by Iran, we may get to see the whole power-keg go up in flames.
Israel may very well strike Iran in the next few days.
We need some foreign policy.
Let's re-animate Jimmy Carter.
Iran has effectively offered Casus Belli.
Just yesterday's?
They won't.
We have some.
He's animated.
They've done that for decades now.
Quote from: Townsend on March 17, 2011, 12:31:57 PM
Just yesterday's?
They won't.
We have some.
He's animated.
They've done that for decades now.
You could have just responded "Meh."
That's the standard White House response. :o
Gaddafi just issued warning to the citizens of Benghazi.
"We are coming tonight. There will be no mercy."
Meanwhile, back at the White House:
President Obama enjoys a relaxes St. Patty's day with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, joking that no one is as Irish as O'Bama (insert laugh track). Tonight it's an Irish dinner party with plenty of, you guessed it, green beer!
Tomorrow morning Air Force One will whisk the first family away from all of this budget, Japan, Libya, dibia, bla-di-de bla bla nonsense to sunny Rio for some shirtless presidential frolicking on the beach. We should have a new Time Magazine cover by Saturday night.
What a job. Pass Obamacare and then skaaaaaate to re-election.
Quote from: Gaspar on March 17, 2011, 12:34:47 PM
You could have just responded "Meh."
That's the standard White House response. :o
I thought the current response was "When is my tee time, and is everybody packed for Rio? By the way, Hillary, you're in charge while I'm gone and don't call unless it's urgent."
Quote from: dbacks fan on March 17, 2011, 04:29:45 PM
I thought the current response was "When is my tee time, and is everybody packed for Rio? By the way, Hillary, you're in charge while I'm gone and don't call unless it's urgent."
Don't mess with the radio stations in my limo and the Heineken Light in the White House fridge is Michelle's. She says you can have one of them. There are six in there, and there better be five when she gets back.
If Bill comes over, don't let him play in the oval office. We won't discuss what happened last time. I don't care if it "brings back memories."
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fkpPtCdtbXg/SU8klIu97NI/AAAAAAAABdw/fbIQkA8NwCg/s400/Bill_clinton.jpg)
Today's Article in The Daily (warning Murdochian rag)
OH, HILL NO
Obama's indecision on Libya has pushed Clinton over the edge
BY JOSHUA HERSH THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2011
Fed up with a president "who can't make his mind up" as Libyan rebels are on the brink of defeat, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is looking to the exits.
At the tail end of her mission to bolster the Libyan opposition, which has suffered days of losses to Col. Moammar Gadhafi's forces, Clinton announced that she's done with Obama after 2012 — even if he wins again.
"Obviously, she's not happy with dealing with a president who can't decide if today is Tuesday or Wednesday, who can't make his mind up," a Clinton insider told The Daily. "She's exhausted, tired." He went on, "If you take a look at what's on her plate as compared with what's on the plates of previous Secretary of States — there's more going on now at this particular moment, and it's like playing sports with a bunch of amateurs. And she doesn't have any power. She's trying to do what she can to keep things from imploding."
Clinton is said to be especially peeved with the president's waffling over how to encourage the kinds of Arab uprisings that have recently toppled regimes in Egypt and Tunisia, and in particular his refusal to back a no-fly zone over Libya.
In the past week, former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton's former top adviser Anne-Marie Slaughter lashed out at Obama for the same reason.
The tension has even spilled over into her dealings with European diplomats, with whom she met early this week.
When French president Nicolas Sarkozy urged her to press the White House to take more aggressive action in Libya, Clinton repeatedly replied only, "There are difficulties," according to Foreign Policy magazine.
"Frankly we are just completely puzzled," one of the diplomats told Foreign Policy magazine. "We are wondering if this is a priority for the United States."
Or as the insider described Obama's foreign policy shop: "It's amateur night."
Clinton revealed her desire to leave yesterday in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, responding four times to his questions about whether she would accept a post during a potential second Obama administration with a single word: "No."
Philippe Reines, an adviser and spokesman for Clinton, downplayed thesignificance of the interview, saying, "He asked, she answered. Really that simple. [It] wasn't a declaration."
But her blunt string of four "no's" followed a period of intense frustration for the secretary, according to the insider, who told The Daily that Clinton has grown weary of fighting an uphill battle in the administration.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates came out against a no-fly zone almost two weeks ago, while Clinton grew closer to the Libyan opposition.
Last week, excommunicated members of Libya's embassy to the United States set up shop in an office inside the State Department.
Obama himself made light of her strong feelings for supporting the opposition in a speech last week at the Gridiron Club Dinner, an annual gathering that traditionally features a stand-up comedy act by the president.
"I've dispatched Hillary to the Middle East to talk about how these countries can transition to new leaders — though, I've got to be honest, she's gotten a little passionate about the subject," Obama said to laughter from the audience.
"These past few weeks it's been tough falling asleep with Hillary out there on Pennsylvania Avenue shouting, throwing rocks at the window."
And to some, the firing last week of State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley over disparaging remarks he made about the Pentagon detention policies had the appearance of a power move by the Defense Department more than anything else.
While the stakes in Libya could not be higher, the insider said that something far more domestic was on Clinton's mind after she leaves the State Department: "She wants to be a grandmother more than anything."
—
1994 called. It wants its idiotic tropes back. :-*
Quote from: Gaspar on March 17, 2011, 04:54:43 PM
When French president Nicolas Sarkozy urged her to press the White House to take more aggressive action in Libya....
The French want a no-fly zone as long as the US pays for it and provides the military. :o
Wow!
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/235196/Barack-Obama-The-Weakest-President-in-history-
Wow again!
The very threat of a UN imposed no-fly zone has caused Gaddafi to issue a cease fire this morning.
So basically we could have done this 30+ days and thousands of lives ago.
Quote from: Gaspar on March 18, 2011, 08:10:36 AM
Wow again!
The very threat of a UN imposed no-fly zone has caused Gaddafi to issue a cease fire this morning.
So basically we could have done this 30+ days and thousands of lives ago.
It is nice to know that you are an expert on international negotiations and United Nations decisions. Some times there are many factors involved in these delicate matters.
I guess you were just wanting a new way to bash the President.
Quote from: RecycleMichael on March 18, 2011, 08:46:46 AM
It is nice to know that you are an expert on international negotiations and United Nations decisions. Some times there are many factors involved in these delicate matters.
I guess you were just wanting a new way to bash the President.
He's been the worst prognosticator I've seen in a long time.
Quote from: RecycleMichael on March 18, 2011, 08:46:46 AM
It is nice to know that you are an expert on international negotiations and United Nations decisions. Some times there are many factors involved in these delicate matters.
I guess you were just wanting a new way to bash the President.
Unfortunately it's not just Gaspar. The world's media seems to be starting to ride the President pretty hard. We are becoming an even bigger laughingstock for our foreign policy. At least under the Bush and Cliton administrations, you could count on us to go in and bomb something from an aspirin plant to all out carpet bombing and 10 year conflicts.
There's been too many mixed signals out of Washington. Apparently, they don't do well in coordinating the company line with this admin.
Quote from: Conan71 on March 18, 2011, 09:16:34 AM
Unfortunately it's not just Gaspar. The world's media seems to be starting to ride the President pretty hard. We are becoming an even bigger laughingstock for our foreign policy. At least under the Bush and Cliton administrations, you could count on us to go in and bomb something from an aspirin plant to all out carpet bombing and 10 year conflicts.
There's been too many mixed signals out of Washington. Apparently, they don't do well in coordinating the company line with this admin.
Imagine the fatwas if the USA did what Gaspar apparently wants.
If our military went in to a Mid-East country again without the cooperation of other mid-East governments then Gaspar would get his wish for more terrorism and Israel in a war.
"Laughingstock" is pretty extreme. Obama's dealing with an interesting domestic conundrum: he's overcommitted already overseas (two expensive and lengthy wars + tsunami/nuclear disaster in Japan -- one of our staunchest allies + low grade insurgency wars in Yemen + pirate patrols + Korean peninsula tensions + all the standard old NATO agreements) and undoubtedly trying to find a way to balance our budget woes and reduced appetite for foreign entanglements with things blowing up in literally every corner of the globe.
At the same time, a no-fly zone is a much bigger commitment than we think it is. It ain't just planes flying around bombing things. In almost every modern instance where one has been implemented, we've ended up with long peacekeeping presence in-country after the NFZ accomplishes what it's meant to accomplish. There are consequences to what we do, and this a biggie.
I don't like how slowly Obama's moved in the Mid East, and I think Hillary's been right to push the administration to support the no-fly zone, but at the same time he's been correct overall to insist that what's been organic all along should remain organic. Tunisia and Egypt (and Bahrain and Libya) are all by the people and for the people, and the more we're overtly involved the more it becomes about us and not about them.
Finally: what's up with all the Hillary kremlinology, Gassy? Either you've got a crush or are reaaaaaally hoping against hope that she'll challenge Obama in 2012. I appreciate you trying to find more primary choices for me, but overall I'm satisfied with what I've got, thanks.
I'm going to have to cut Obama some slack on Libya. No matter what we do, the USA cannot win. If we help the rebels, we are interfering in an internal affair. If we don't help the rebels, we are supporting a dictator (dick tater? :D).
And now Gaddafi is pretty much thumbing his nose at the threats.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/19/us-libya-idUSTRE7270JP20110319
Quote
(Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces pushed into the rebel-held city of Benghazi on Saturday, defying world demands for an immediate ceasefire and forcing rebels to retreat.
The advance into Libya's second city of 670,000 people appeared to be an attempt to pre-empt Western military intervention which diplomats say will come only after an international meeting on Paris later on Saturday.
A Libyan rebel spokesman said Gaddafi's forces had entered Benghazi while a Reuters witness saw a jet circling over the city shot down and at least one separate explosion near the rebel movement's headquarters in the city.
"They have entered Benghazi from the west. Where are the Western powers? They said they could strike within hours," rebel military spokesman Khalid al-Sayeh told Reuters.
Gaddafi said Western powers had no right to intervene.
"This is injustice, this is clear aggression," government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim quoted Gaddafi as saying in a letter to France, Britain and the United Nations. "You will regret it if you take a step toward interfering in our internal affairs."
The Libyan government blamed the rebels, who it says are members of al Qaeda, for breaking the ceasefire around Benghazi.
As explosions shook Benghazi, rebel fighters said they were being forced to retreat from the outskirts of the city, but later claimed victory after holding back the advance, as they have in other towns they eventually lost to government troops.
"We revolutionaries have taken control of four tanks inside Benghazi. Rebel forces have pushed Gaddafi's forces out of Benghazi," said Nasr al-Kikili, a lawyer who works for the rebel media center in Benghazi, as crowds celebrated by firing guns in the air and parading on top of a tank.
Earlier, an unidentified fighter jet was shot down over Benghazi.
"I saw the plane circle around, come out of the clouds, head toward an apparent target, and then it was hit and went straight down in flames and a huge billow of black smoke went up," Reuters correspondent Angus MacSwan said.
"It seems it was attacking the Benghazi military barracks."
REBEL CITY DOUBTS WEST
Benghazi residents were angry at the West's delay. "Europe and America have sold us out. We have been hearing bombing all night, and they have been doing nothing. Why? we have no one to help us but God," said Hassan Marouf, 58, standing outside the door of his house in Benghazi.
"Us men are not afraid to die, but I have women and children inside and they are crying and in tears. Help us."
The French ambassador to the United Nations said he thought Western powers would not take military action till after the Paris meeting, attended by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Arab leaders.
"Everything is ready but the decision is now a political one," said a French government source. "It's clear we have to move quickly."
Clinton, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy met each other ahead of the wider talks, a move which could indicate Western military action may start slightly sooner.
Ambassadors from the 28 NATO states adjourned a meeting in Brussels on Saturday to discuss possible NATO involvement in policing Libyan skies till after the talks in Paris.
Meanwhile, rebels said Libyan jets had bombed the road to Benghazi airport and elsewhere on the outskirts.
"They have just entered Benghazi and they are flanking us with tanks, missiles and mortars," Fathi Abidi, a rebel supporter who works on logistics, said at the western entrance to the city where about three quarters of million people live.
He pointed to a black smoke plume on the city's boundaries.
Inside the city, residents set up make-shift barricades with furniture, benches, road signs and even a barbecue in one case at intervals along main streets. Each barricade was manned by half a dozen rebels, but only about half of those were armed.
Elsewhere in the city, rebels reported skirmishes and strikes by Gaddafi forces.
"Fighter jets bombed the road to the airport and there's been an air strike on the Abu Hadi district on the outskirts," Mohammed Dwo, a hospital worker and a rebel supporter, told Reuters.
"ATTACKS MUST STOP"
Within hours of President Barack Obama saying the terms of a U.N. resolution meant to end fighting in Libya were non-negotiable, his U.N. envoy Susan Rice, asked by CNN whether Gaddafi was in violation of these terms, said: "Yes, he is."
Obama made clear any military action would aim to change conditions across Libya -- rather than just in the rebel-held east -- by calling on Gaddafi's forces to pull back from the western cities of Zawiyah and Misrata as well as from the east.
"All attacks against civilians must stop," Obama said, a day after the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution authorizing international military intervention.
"Gaddafi must stop his troops from advancing on Benghazi, pull them back from Ajdabiya, Misrata and Zawiyah, and establish water, electricity and gas supplies to all areas. Humanitarian assistance must be allowed to reach the people of Libya ...
"Let me be clear, these terms are not negotiable... If Gaddafi does not comply ... the resolution will be enforced through military action."
Libyan government forces fired artillery shells into the rebel-held city of Misrata early and pro-Gaddafi snipers killed two people in the city on Saturday, and water supplies were still cut off, residents said.
(Reporting by Mohammed Abbas and Angus MacSwan in Benghazi, Tom Perry in Cairo, Maria Golovnina and Michael Georgy in Tripoli, Hamid Ould Ahmed and Christian Lowe in Algiers; Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Qaddafi's getting his lumps in before NATO can get its forces revved up. He may even think he can eliminate the rebels entirely before the NFZ gets implemented. And he may be right. The question will then be what are the consequences to Qaddafi if he beats the rebellion? Do we go to war against him after the fact?
The French are patrolling Lybian airspace today.
The USA has fired missiles at Libya.
The price of oil will be up on Monday ....$110 coming.