Defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton is apparently in the running to be Barack Obama’s secretary of state, in effect foreign secretary but with more power.
This is dangerous territory for Obama because, by not acting quickly to kill such speculation, he runs the risk of making a serious enemy if it doesn’t happen.
Sending Hillary jaunting abroad would be useful for him domestically, by keeping her off the home politics patch, but would it be good for America?
In this respect her previous support for the war in Iraq, which cost her dearly in the Democratic hustings, would also be useful for Obama. Any decision she was party to, like taking troops out of Iraq or Afghanistan, would appear as if it were made with an open mind.
Afghanistan is Obama’s biggest foreign policy problem. He has said he wants troops pulled out of Iraq to boost the US presence in Afghanistan but it must be clear to him by now that the Afghan conflict is unwinnable and also a huge destabilising factor in Pakistan (which is rocky enough as it is).
His European allies (even formerly gung-ho UK foreign secretary David Miliband) are less keen than ever on their involvement there and certainly in no mind to increase their forces in line with the US, which is what Obama has said he wants.
So it’s a tricky issue for him, with some backtracking inevitable.
Why not give it to Hillary to sort out?