Kerry: Secretary Today, President Tomorrow? Don’t Give Up on Mrs. Clinton

I’ll bet that Hillary Clinton will enter the race for the White House in four years. What’s more, it’s very probable that she will clash with John Kerry in the fight for the nomination of the Democratic Party, as his position as secretary of state will be a good starting point for his campaign.

It’s common knowledge that President Barack Obama, to emphasize the start of his second term, will exchange several of the main secretaries in his cabinet. Obama has started with the first secretary, the secretary of state, which was all the easier as Mrs. Hillary Clinton didn’t conceal her intention to quit. Her position will be filled in by a pillar of the Democratic Party, Sen. John Kerry. He has some presidential experience — he was a candidate for the White House in 2004. And he had all the features to win: a Vietnam War hero, a moderate reformer, an inspiring orator, supported by an intelligent and extremely rich wife who, as an heiress of the Heinz company (ketchup producer), supported him financially. He lost to George W. Bush, even though he based his campaign on a platform of quickly ending the war in Iraq.

It’s difficult to describe an ideal winning candidate in American politics. A textbook example: “National Journal” carried out a survey among 75 activists and experts of the Democratic Party a year before the next election (2008). The candidate who surprised the respondents most negatively compared to what they expected was Obama. And the one who surprised them most positively was Mrs. Clinton. As we know, the election results turned out differently. Obama got the nomination; Mrs. Clinton had to concede and support her competitor.

However, she is too experienced a politician, with the exceptional asset of a popular name, to make me believe that she’ll spend the rest of her life knitting. It’s four years until the next presidential election but I’ll bet that Hillary Clinton will enter the race for the White House. What’s more, she will probably clash with John Kerry in the fight for the Democratic nomination, as his position as secretary of state will be a good starting point for the campaign. It’s definitely a more accurate forecast than the end of the world foretold for today.