But, okay. Point taken.

I still think Hillary is a good choice, and I don’t mean to impede on your skepticism. Apologies.

Did my writing have a pro-Obama slant? Yes. I endorsed him. But I’m not a paid Obama staffer, and it’s not my job to blindly cheerlead for him. My job is to inform as best I can and give my honest assessment of current events. In this particular case, my honest assessment is that this was a bad decision. I still think Obama will be a good president, and it’s not impossible that Clinton could be a perfectly fine Secretary of State–though I doubt it.

The takeaway point here is that Obama is a good man, maybe a great man, but he’s a human being. Even Lincoln fucked up sometimes. And for me to blithely approve of everything he does, even if it doesn’t sound right, because he’s super-awesome and knows things, would not just be a disservice to my readers; it would be a disservice to Obama, and a serious ethical breach.

If you want to have faith, that’s fine. But it’s not my job to have faith. It’s my job to be a skeptic.

And I don’t think he is any smarter than I am. (which is pretty damn smart anyways!)

In any case, it’s probably a mixture of his trust in Clinton and his need to keep Clinton under control that motivated his decision.

And I agree with Josh, before we declare this as Obama’s Worst Move Ever, let’s wait to see how Hillary does. I, personally, trust that she would do a good job. Again, if you voted for Obama, trust that he too is doing a good job. Don’t jump ship as soon as he does something you disagree with. You’ve been campaigning tirelessly for him since his entrance into the presidential race. Have you no faith?

You can’t just “come up to speed” with the history and culture of the Middle East. And yes, I realize there are other parts of the world, but no, I do not think any other area is nearly as important. I’m willing to bet any PhD in Middle Eastern culture is just as knowledgeable about the Far East as Clinton is.

And yes, anyone who runs for President is probably a career politician. Fortunately, Secretary of State does not need to be one of those people. If Obama were smart he would pick someone who actually knows what they are talking about, not someone who listens to other “experts” and makes general ideological decisions (wrong ones, as Ned pointed out).

“But fact–there are other parts of the world! Like, a lot of other parts!” was a really dick way for me to make that point. I apologize for that.

But one other point I’d like to make in support of Clinton is that part of Obama’s core message is that you don’t need years and years of experience in a certain field to do a job well, and that Washington is in dire need of change. So along these lines, I think picking Clinton makes sense.