Opinion of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

[LBJer]

I was really impressed with Obama's magnanimousness in appointing Hillary Secretary of State.  He must have had to do something major to make it up to Michelle--it's obvious Michelle hates Hillary with a passion.

I think Hillary's done an excellent job.  My general opinion of her, however, is more mixed.  Her vote for the Iraq War will always be a black mark against her. She's far too intelligent to have believed the war was a good idea. I didn't like her book "Living History" much either.  Her statement in the opening chapter that "The United States had saved the world from fascism..." in WWII is completely outrageous.  One wonders what the Soviet Union and Great Britain, among others, were doing during the war.  "The United States had helped to save the world from fascism..." would have been historically accurate.  The book is completely sanitized and politically correct--although that's to be expected from someone running for president.  But it's still frustrating because she's clearly a very intelligent person and it would be fascinating to know what she really thinks and feels about things.  Her description of the Lewinsky episode is clearly designed to elicit the maximum amount of sympathy possible for her.