Samantha Power, who famously called Hillary Clinton a “monster,” is going to get a key spot on President Obama’s National Security Council team.
As I note in my New Atlanticist post, “Obama’s Team of Rivals Gets More Interesting,” this raises an interesting question.
Will Clinton be a powerful Secretary of State or will Obama run his foreign policy from the White House through National Security Advisor Jim Jones and his team? Most of the speculation I hear is betting on the latter.
Both Jones — who served as the Atlantic Council’s chairman immediately prior to taking the post — and Clinton gave up very good positions to take their jobs. Jones was almost certainly paying more in taxes from his various private sector positions than he’ll earn in the administration and Clinton was a very influential player in the Senate. One presumes they both received assurances that their voices would be heard in shaping policy before signing on.
It’ll be interesting to watch this play out.
AP Photo by Sheila Griffin
