While Senate rules on decorum do not prohibit personal references to the president, House rules do. According to section 370 of the House rules manual, members may not:
* call the President a "liar."
* call the President a "hypocrite."
* describe the President's veto of a bill as "cowardly."
* charge that the President has been "intellectually dishonest."
* refer to the President as "giving aid and comfort to the enemy."
* refer to alleged "sexual misconduct on the President's part."
(Hard to imagine how many members were in violation of the House rules during the Bill Clinton impeachment debate in 1998, but we digress.)
House Democratic leaders clearly view Wilson's outburst as a violation of the rules. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told our colleague Ben Pershing Wednesday night that Wilson's behavior was "contrary to the rules of the House."
But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Thursday there should be no formal punishment of Wilson. "The episode was unfortunate," Pelosi said. "Congressman Wilson apologized, and it's time to turn our attention to health care."
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) didn't suggest a specific form of possible punishment for Wilson but he did say Thursday morning on the Bill Press Show that Wilson "ought to man up" and apologize to Obama in person. Clyburn said Wilson's release of a written apology late Wednesday night was "cowardly."
"I share counties with him ... these are people who may have political conservatism but they do have good manners, and I do believe that the first sign of a good education is in fact good manners," Clyburn said on Press's radio show.
Appearing on the same program, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) suggested the House should "reprimand or censure" Wilson, later repeating his call on Twitter.
Retired Major General Paul Eaton, who has become a de facto Democratic spokesman on national security issues, says Wilson, a retired Colonel, may have violated military codes of conduct as well.
Writing on The Huffington Post, Eaton takes exception with Wilson's defenders who say Wilson is stressed out because his kids are serving in the military.
"Every parent whose children are serving -- as all three of mine are -- can respect the strain Col. Wilson might be feeling, and thank him for his sacrifice," Eaton writes. "Yet I would never expect to hear anything but the greatest respect for the elected President of the United States from these men and women, regardless of their political persuasion."
Meanwhile, Wilson's Web site was down and his phone lines were clogged.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
We Love You Obama But Please Show Some Backbone
(written by Helen Thomas - Front Row Seat)
President Obama should stop trying to win bipartisan support for national health care reform legislation.
Obama seems loath to put pressure on fellow Democrats to embrace a government-run health insurance program as part of his reform plan.
Instead, the president has waffled on this key point, most recently saying that it's "only a sliver" of his health care reform goals.
This mushy approach is designed to win Republican votes in Congress. But Obama should recognize that hard-line Republicans are never going to support his health reform program because, for them, the Obama health proposals are a sideshow. Their real goal is to limit his presidency to one term.
He should put his foot down and say that a government-sponsored health insurance agency is absolutely necessary to compete against private companies and keep their rates low. And he should accept the reality that any congressional victory will be won by Democrats -- not by some imaginary bipartisan coalition.
If Obama wants to win, he could tear a page out of Lyndon B. Johnson's book on sure-fire ways to overcome congressional resistance.
Tom Johnson, former deputy White House press secretary for President Lyndon B. Johnson (no relation), recalls that LBJ was relentless in pursuit of needed votes and that he knew what it would take to win every lawmaker's vote on Capitol Hill.
Johnson -- who went on to become publisher of the Los Angeles Times and president of CNN -- said LBJ would be on the telephone with members of Congress and their key staffers, telling them: "Your president really needs your vote on this bill."
He also would know about every special request from every member -- from White House tours to appointments to federal jobs and commissions.
"The Johnson treatment" also included personal or group visits with the president.
Johnson kept tabs on deep-pocket political donors and would urge them to pressure members of Congress to vote a certain way.
He also would call on religious leaders and even have his aide Jack Valenti call the pope "if it would help."
There were also evening meetings with senators and House members, with nightcaps and gifts to take home such as cuff links, watches, signed photos and a pledge to support them in the next election. He also sent them home with gifts for their children and grandchildren.
Bribes? You bet.
Nor were journalists immune from his charms and generosity. Newspaper and television network executives would get calls from Johnson, seeking their support.
He became a familiar figure at six different churches, often using references in the sermons he heard in his next speeches.
He would have been in heaven with a cell phone.
I remember when Johnson was very unhappy with his friend Sen. Frank Church, D-Idaho, who was chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and veering away from support for the Vietnam War.
At a White House reception, Johnson beckoned Church over for a chat and said: "Now Frank, just where do you get your ideas about Vietnam?"
"From Walter Lippmann, the great political columnist," Church replied.
"Well," said Johnson, "the next time you need a dam in Idaho, you just ask Walter Lippmann."
Opponents of Obama's "public plan option" whine about government intervention in the private sector, though they were conspicuously silent when taxpayers had to bailout Wall Street.
Health insurance companies and other critics are pouring millions into defeating the proposed legislation. They are disseminating falsehoods and using fear tactics to scare constituents.
Lawmakers -- our elected public servants -- have a moral duty to help the 47 million Americans who have no insurance. Senators and House members should work to make sure that all Americans have the same comfortable health coverage that they have.
President Obama should stop trying to win bipartisan support for national health care reform legislation.
Obama seems loath to put pressure on fellow Democrats to embrace a government-run health insurance program as part of his reform plan.
Instead, the president has waffled on this key point, most recently saying that it's "only a sliver" of his health care reform goals.
This mushy approach is designed to win Republican votes in Congress. But Obama should recognize that hard-line Republicans are never going to support his health reform program because, for them, the Obama health proposals are a sideshow. Their real goal is to limit his presidency to one term.
He should put his foot down and say that a government-sponsored health insurance agency is absolutely necessary to compete against private companies and keep their rates low. And he should accept the reality that any congressional victory will be won by Democrats -- not by some imaginary bipartisan coalition.
If Obama wants to win, he could tear a page out of Lyndon B. Johnson's book on sure-fire ways to overcome congressional resistance.
Tom Johnson, former deputy White House press secretary for President Lyndon B. Johnson (no relation), recalls that LBJ was relentless in pursuit of needed votes and that he knew what it would take to win every lawmaker's vote on Capitol Hill.
Johnson -- who went on to become publisher of the Los Angeles Times and president of CNN -- said LBJ would be on the telephone with members of Congress and their key staffers, telling them: "Your president really needs your vote on this bill."
He also would know about every special request from every member -- from White House tours to appointments to federal jobs and commissions.
"The Johnson treatment" also included personal or group visits with the president.
Johnson kept tabs on deep-pocket political donors and would urge them to pressure members of Congress to vote a certain way.
He also would call on religious leaders and even have his aide Jack Valenti call the pope "if it would help."
There were also evening meetings with senators and House members, with nightcaps and gifts to take home such as cuff links, watches, signed photos and a pledge to support them in the next election. He also sent them home with gifts for their children and grandchildren.
Bribes? You bet.
Nor were journalists immune from his charms and generosity. Newspaper and television network executives would get calls from Johnson, seeking their support.
He became a familiar figure at six different churches, often using references in the sermons he heard in his next speeches.
He would have been in heaven with a cell phone.
I remember when Johnson was very unhappy with his friend Sen. Frank Church, D-Idaho, who was chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and veering away from support for the Vietnam War.
At a White House reception, Johnson beckoned Church over for a chat and said: "Now Frank, just where do you get your ideas about Vietnam?"
"From Walter Lippmann, the great political columnist," Church replied.
"Well," said Johnson, "the next time you need a dam in Idaho, you just ask Walter Lippmann."
Opponents of Obama's "public plan option" whine about government intervention in the private sector, though they were conspicuously silent when taxpayers had to bailout Wall Street.
Health insurance companies and other critics are pouring millions into defeating the proposed legislation. They are disseminating falsehoods and using fear tactics to scare constituents.
Lawmakers -- our elected public servants -- have a moral duty to help the 47 million Americans who have no insurance. Senators and House members should work to make sure that all Americans have the same comfortable health coverage that they have.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
HATE GROUPS ARE GROWING
I saw these hate groups way back in the primaries and caucus's. This is sickening! What is happening to this country? This is NOT patriotism. This is prejudice. This is hatred. This is violence. This is the KKK. This is the GOP. This is the Republican Party turning a blind eye and allowing this to happen. Obama wants peace between the two parties. What the hell is wrong with you crazy people!!! I admire Evan Kohlman in this interview below. Please watch...
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Susan B. Anthony
Her principal cause, women's suffrage, would not be realized until 1920, long after her death, when Congress enacted the 19th Amendment.
Susan Brownell Anthony (1820-1906) was one of the 19th-century’s most successful reformers: (hello) A lecturer, advocate for temperance and abolitionism, and pioneer crusader for the woman suffrage movement in the United States. She fought for fair women’s wages, property and land rights for women, and legal rights of mother’s for their children. In 1869, Anthony, along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, founded the National Woman Suffrage Association which paved the way for nineteenth amendment (1920) to the Federal Constitution, giving women the right to vote. Bold and indefatigable, Anthony is the only women whose likeness has ever appeared on any U.S. currency -- currently the country’s largest denomination coin, the dollar.ProvenanceEdward S. Hawes, Alice Mary Hawes, and Marion Augusta Hawes; [Holman's Print Shop, Boston]; I.N. Phelps Stokes, New York, 1937
Signatures, Inscriptions, and MarkingsMarks: Hallmark, BL: B.F. 40 (see Spirit of Fact #5, p. 152)
Inscriptions: Inscribed in pencil, verso: "Susan B. Anthony // 1820-1906"
NotesBiography: Born into an activist Quaker family in Adams, Massachusetts, Susan Brownell Anthony (1820-1906) devoted her life to the major causes of her day-temperance, abolition, feminism, and labor rights. In 1845, the Anthony family moved to Rochester, New York, where their farm served as a meeting place for abolitionists, including Fredrick Douglass and William Llyod Garrison. Her freindship with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, which began at an antislavery convention in 1851, along with the sexiest attitudes of temperance workers (as a woman, she was prohibited from speaking at public rallies), deepend her commitment to women's rights, and she quickly became one of the movement's ablest leaders. Her principal cause, women's suffrage, would not be realized until 1920, long after her death, when Congress enacted the 19th Amendment.
Susan Brownell Anthony (1820-1906) was one of the 19th-century’s most successful reformers: (hello) A lecturer, advocate for temperance and abolitionism, and pioneer crusader for the woman suffrage movement in the United States. She fought for fair women’s wages, property and land rights for women, and legal rights of mother’s for their children. In 1869, Anthony, along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, founded the National Woman Suffrage Association which paved the way for nineteenth amendment (1920) to the Federal Constitution, giving women the right to vote. Bold and indefatigable, Anthony is the only women whose likeness has ever appeared on any U.S. currency -- currently the country’s largest denomination coin, the dollar.ProvenanceEdward S. Hawes, Alice Mary Hawes, and Marion Augusta Hawes; [Holman's Print Shop, Boston]; I.N. Phelps Stokes, New York, 1937
Signatures, Inscriptions, and MarkingsMarks: Hallmark, BL: B.F. 40 (see Spirit of Fact #5, p. 152)
Inscriptions: Inscribed in pencil, verso: "Susan B. Anthony // 1820-1906"
NotesBiography: Born into an activist Quaker family in Adams, Massachusetts, Susan Brownell Anthony (1820-1906) devoted her life to the major causes of her day-temperance, abolition, feminism, and labor rights. In 1845, the Anthony family moved to Rochester, New York, where their farm served as a meeting place for abolitionists, including Fredrick Douglass and William Llyod Garrison. Her freindship with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, which began at an antislavery convention in 1851, along with the sexiest attitudes of temperance workers (as a woman, she was prohibited from speaking at public rallies), deepend her commitment to women's rights, and she quickly became one of the movement's ablest leaders. Her principal cause, women's suffrage, would not be realized until 1920, long after her death, when Congress enacted the 19th Amendment.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Its Obama They're After, not Healthcare
(this article taken from the NY Times)
The woman went to an airplane hangar in Belgrade, Mont., the other day, prepared to actually listen to President Obama talk about health care reform in America.
She has watched, the way the rest of us have watched, as the debate about health care has turned into a sideshow and in some cases even more of a freak show than Glenn Beck's. Now she wanted to see for herself, along with more than 1,000 others, if it would happen this way in Montana.
This is what she said about the event when it was over:
"Yes, there were a few protesters en route. But the Montanans who were excited to hear the President far outnumbered the fringe groups."
Then she said this about Obama: "He was smart, fair, funny."
So this wasn't an occasion when people with legitimate concerns and legitimate points to make were overwhelmed by the wing nuts and screamers who take their marching orders from right-wing radio and television and the Internet.
Those idiots come to these town hall meetings more to be seen than heard, and think creating chaos makes them great Americans.
Those people have been convinced by the current culture that we are dying to hear from them, and the louder the better. People who think that all they need to star in their own reality series is a couple of TV crews. But then this is Twitter America now, where no thought is supposed to go unspoken.
We hear that all of this is democracy in action. It's not. It's boom-box democracy, people thinking that if they somehow make enough noise on this subject, they can make Obama into a one-term President.
The most violent opposition isn't directed at his ideas about health care reform. It is directed at him. It is about him. They couldn't make enough of a majority to beat the Harvard-educated black guy out of the White House, so they will beat him on an issue where they see him as being most vulnerable.
In the process, they'll come after him on health care the way Kenneth Starr went after Bill Clinton on oral sex in the Oval Office.
With that kind of zealotry, screaming about government programs as if Medicare isn't one. It is why so many of them, all these wild-eyed red faces in the crowd, look completely certifiable, screaming about how Obama wants to kill Grandma, as if he's suddenly turned into Jack Kevorkian.
And by the way, if Sarah Palin is involved - Palin as uninformed as ever about these so-called "death panels" - the debate just got dumber, if that's possible. No kidding. If foreign policy was a brain-buster for Palin, something as truly complex as health care will make her feel as dizzy as if she just rolled down a hill.
So much of this comes from people who get all their information from right-wing media, or their cheerleading from political has-beens like Betsy McCaughey, people who don't see this as a fight for better and more inclusive health care, but who now see it as something grander and more noble, a fight to reclaim America from Obama.
They couldn't win the fight last November, when he laid out John McCain and Palin and a whole party with one election, so they try to do it now, with lies and rather amazing distortions. They want everybody to believe that if Obama gets his way, he'll eventually be in charge of insurance and doctors and whether you use CVS or Duane Reade. He's a Socialist selling socialized medicine. He'll kill Grandma. Come on. The notion that this is all honest dissent is just one more lie.
Even in Montana, the Swift Boaters who would line up against any health care plan endorsed by Barack Obama ran one television ad 115 times over a day and a half before the President arrived.
"Every time we are in sight of health insurance reform, the special interests fight back with everything they've got," the President said outside Bozeman. "They use their influence and run their ads. They use their political allies to scare the American people."
He is right about that. But the special interests aren't fighting the reform, in a system that cries out for reform, as much as they are fighting him. They see their first real good opening and they go for it.
They don't just want to hijack this debate, they want to hijack his presidency. The rest of it, about your coverage and everything else, is just the cover story.
The woman went to an airplane hangar in Belgrade, Mont., the other day, prepared to actually listen to President Obama talk about health care reform in America.
She has watched, the way the rest of us have watched, as the debate about health care has turned into a sideshow and in some cases even more of a freak show than Glenn Beck's. Now she wanted to see for herself, along with more than 1,000 others, if it would happen this way in Montana.
This is what she said about the event when it was over:
"Yes, there were a few protesters en route. But the Montanans who were excited to hear the President far outnumbered the fringe groups."
Then she said this about Obama: "He was smart, fair, funny."
So this wasn't an occasion when people with legitimate concerns and legitimate points to make were overwhelmed by the wing nuts and screamers who take their marching orders from right-wing radio and television and the Internet.
Those idiots come to these town hall meetings more to be seen than heard, and think creating chaos makes them great Americans.
Those people have been convinced by the current culture that we are dying to hear from them, and the louder the better. People who think that all they need to star in their own reality series is a couple of TV crews. But then this is Twitter America now, where no thought is supposed to go unspoken.
We hear that all of this is democracy in action. It's not. It's boom-box democracy, people thinking that if they somehow make enough noise on this subject, they can make Obama into a one-term President.
The most violent opposition isn't directed at his ideas about health care reform. It is directed at him. It is about him. They couldn't make enough of a majority to beat the Harvard-educated black guy out of the White House, so they will beat him on an issue where they see him as being most vulnerable.
In the process, they'll come after him on health care the way Kenneth Starr went after Bill Clinton on oral sex in the Oval Office.
With that kind of zealotry, screaming about government programs as if Medicare isn't one. It is why so many of them, all these wild-eyed red faces in the crowd, look completely certifiable, screaming about how Obama wants to kill Grandma, as if he's suddenly turned into Jack Kevorkian.
And by the way, if Sarah Palin is involved - Palin as uninformed as ever about these so-called "death panels" - the debate just got dumber, if that's possible. No kidding. If foreign policy was a brain-buster for Palin, something as truly complex as health care will make her feel as dizzy as if she just rolled down a hill.
So much of this comes from people who get all their information from right-wing media, or their cheerleading from political has-beens like Betsy McCaughey, people who don't see this as a fight for better and more inclusive health care, but who now see it as something grander and more noble, a fight to reclaim America from Obama.
They couldn't win the fight last November, when he laid out John McCain and Palin and a whole party with one election, so they try to do it now, with lies and rather amazing distortions. They want everybody to believe that if Obama gets his way, he'll eventually be in charge of insurance and doctors and whether you use CVS or Duane Reade. He's a Socialist selling socialized medicine. He'll kill Grandma. Come on. The notion that this is all honest dissent is just one more lie.
Even in Montana, the Swift Boaters who would line up against any health care plan endorsed by Barack Obama ran one television ad 115 times over a day and a half before the President arrived.
"Every time we are in sight of health insurance reform, the special interests fight back with everything they've got," the President said outside Bozeman. "They use their influence and run their ads. They use their political allies to scare the American people."
He is right about that. But the special interests aren't fighting the reform, in a system that cries out for reform, as much as they are fighting him. They see their first real good opening and they go for it.
They don't just want to hijack this debate, they want to hijack his presidency. The rest of it, about your coverage and everything else, is just the cover story.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Obama's Weekly Address 7.11.09
Republicans, stop the hatred and rediculous conclusions about President Obama and the state of our economy. Listen to what he has to say. In fact, why dont you do something positive for a change. Contribute to his progressive vision of things and shut the hell up.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Clay Aiken sings ...
50 FUN FACTS ABOUT OBAMA
• He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics
• He was known as "O'Bomber" at high school for his skill at basketball
• His name means "one who is blessed" in Swahili
• His favourite meal is wife Michelle's shrimp linguini
• He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir, Dreams From My Father
• He is left-handed – the sixth post-war president to be left-handed
• He has read every Harry Potter book
• He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali
• He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can't stand ice cream
• His favourite snacks are chocolate-peanut protein bars
• He ate dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper while living in Indonesia
• He can speak Spanish
• While on the campaign trail he refused to watch CNN and had sports channels on instead
• His favourite drink is black forest berry iced tea
• He promised Michelle he would quit smoking before running for president – he didn't
• He kept a pet ape called Tata while in Indonesia
• He can bench press an impressive 200lbs
• He was known as Barry until university when he asked to be addressed by his full name
• His favourite book is Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
• He visited Wokingham, Berks, in 1996 for the stag party of his half-sister's fiancé, but left when a stripper arrived
• His desk in his Senate office once belonged to Robert Kennedy
• He and Michelle made $4.2 million (£2.7 million) last year, with much coming from sales of his books
• His favourite films are Casablanca and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
• He carries a tiny Madonna and child statue and a bracelet belonging to a soldier in Iraq for good luck
• He applied to appear in a black pin-up calendar while at Harvard but was rejected by the all-female committee.
• His favourite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugees
• He took Michelle to see the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing on their first date
• He enjoys playing Scrabble and poker
• He doesn't drink coffee and rarely drinks alcohol
• He would have liked to have been an architect if he were not a politician
• As a teenager he took drugs including marijuana and cocaine
• His daughters' ambitions are to go to Yale before becoming an actress (Malia, 10) and to sing and dance (Sasha, 7)
• He hates the youth trend for trousers which sag beneath the backside
• He repaid his student loan only four years ago after signing his book deal
• His house in Chicago has four fire places
• Daughter Malia's godmother is Jesse Jackson's daughter Santita
• He says his worst habit is constantly checking his BlackBerry
• He uses an Apple Mac laptop
• He drives a Ford Escape Hybrid, having ditched his gas-guzzling Chrysler 300 SUV
• He wears $1,500 (£952) Hart Schaffner Marx suits
• He owns four identical pairs of black size 11 shoes
• He has his hair cut once a week by his Chicago barber, Zariff, who charges $21 (£13)
• His favourite fictional television programmes are Mash and The Wire
• He was given the code name "Renegade" by his Secret Service handlers
• He was nicknamed "Bear" by his late grandmother
• He plans to install a basketball court in the White House grounds
• His favourite artist is Pablo Picasso
• His speciality as a cook is chilli
• He has said many of his friends in Indonesia were "street urchins"
• He keeps on his desk a carving of a wooden hand holding an egg, a Kenyan symbol of the fragility of life
• His late father was a senior economist for the Kenyan government
Monday, November 17, 2008
5 Reasons Hillary should NOT be Sec. of State
Functions of the US Secretary of State:
The Secretary serves as a principal adviser to the President in the determination of U.S. foreign policy and, in recent decades, has become responsible for overall direction, coordination, and supervision of interdepartmental activities of the U.S. Government overseas, excepting certain military activities.
Most of the non-original domestic functions of the Department of State have been transferred to other agencies. Those that remain include storage and use of the Great Seal of the United States, performance of protocol functions for the White House, drafting of proclamations, and replies to inquiries.
In accordance with the United States Constitution, the Secretary negociates with foreign representatives and instructs U.S. embassies or consulates abroad.
As the highest-ranking member of the cabinet, the Secretary of State is fourth in line to succeed the Presidency, coming after the Vice President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the President pro tempore of the Senate. (See United States presidential line of succession.)
Federal law (3 U.S.C. § 20) provides that a presidential resignation must be accomplished by written communication from the President to the Secretary of State. This has occurred once, when President Richard Nixon resigned in August 1974 via a letter to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
When there is a vacancy as Secretary, the office is exercised by another member of the cabinet, as was common in earlier history, or, in more recent times, by a subaltern official of the State Department until the President appoints and the United States Senate confirms a new Secretary.
5 REASONS HILLARY SHOULD NOT BE UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE:
It looks like Barack Obama has offered Hillary Clinton the post of Secretary of State and she’s mulling over whether to take the job or not. Obama’s apparent offer makes him look magnanimous and delights Hillary Clinton’s former backers, so maybe it’s smart politics. But there are a number of good reasons why Clinton should not be secretary of state. Here are five:
Hillary Clinton will have her own agenda (as will her husband). She’s not a team player and will bring in a crew of cronies whose chief aim will be to promote the boss, not the administration. Obama may wake up one day and discover that Hillary has decreed a new “Clinton Doctrine” of foreign policy.
It would be impossible, politically, to fire Hillary. No matter what she says or does, or how insubordinate, Obama will be stuck with her as long as she wants to stay.
Her husband is a walking conflict of interest. Bill helps a Canadian businessman land a uranium contract in Kazakhstan, and soon afterwards the businessman contributes to the Clinton Foundation. Bill’s personal and business dealings are embarrassing enough without Hillary heading the State Department.
The Clinton style of management–for example, pitting one faction of staff against another–would be a disaster at the State Department. Just look at how well it worked on the campaign trail.
And the strongest strike of all against Hillary as secretary of state… look at who endorses her.
The Secretary serves as a principal adviser to the President in the determination of U.S. foreign policy and, in recent decades, has become responsible for overall direction, coordination, and supervision of interdepartmental activities of the U.S. Government overseas, excepting certain military activities.
Most of the non-original domestic functions of the Department of State have been transferred to other agencies. Those that remain include storage and use of the Great Seal of the United States, performance of protocol functions for the White House, drafting of proclamations, and replies to inquiries.
In accordance with the United States Constitution, the Secretary negociates with foreign representatives and instructs U.S. embassies or consulates abroad.
As the highest-ranking member of the cabinet, the Secretary of State is fourth in line to succeed the Presidency, coming after the Vice President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the President pro tempore of the Senate. (See United States presidential line of succession.)
Federal law (3 U.S.C. § 20) provides that a presidential resignation must be accomplished by written communication from the President to the Secretary of State. This has occurred once, when President Richard Nixon resigned in August 1974 via a letter to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
When there is a vacancy as Secretary, the office is exercised by another member of the cabinet, as was common in earlier history, or, in more recent times, by a subaltern official of the State Department until the President appoints and the United States Senate confirms a new Secretary.
5 REASONS HILLARY SHOULD NOT BE UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE:
It looks like Barack Obama has offered Hillary Clinton the post of Secretary of State and she’s mulling over whether to take the job or not. Obama’s apparent offer makes him look magnanimous and delights Hillary Clinton’s former backers, so maybe it’s smart politics. But there are a number of good reasons why Clinton should not be secretary of state. Here are five:
Hillary Clinton will have her own agenda (as will her husband). She’s not a team player and will bring in a crew of cronies whose chief aim will be to promote the boss, not the administration. Obama may wake up one day and discover that Hillary has decreed a new “Clinton Doctrine” of foreign policy.
It would be impossible, politically, to fire Hillary. No matter what she says or does, or how insubordinate, Obama will be stuck with her as long as she wants to stay.
Her husband is a walking conflict of interest. Bill helps a Canadian businessman land a uranium contract in Kazakhstan, and soon afterwards the businessman contributes to the Clinton Foundation. Bill’s personal and business dealings are embarrassing enough without Hillary heading the State Department.
The Clinton style of management–for example, pitting one faction of staff against another–would be a disaster at the State Department. Just look at how well it worked on the campaign trail.
And the strongest strike of all against Hillary as secretary of state… look at who endorses her.
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