Most Americans think Hillary Clinton will be successful as Secretary of State. How successful? We will see what the next 4 years in the world brings. However, one should never underestimate Hillary Clinton's future goals, which are no smaller than being the first female President of the United States.
My friend Dr. Mike pointed out that no Secretary of State had ever ascended to the Presidency. While that is not true in American history overall, it has been true in recent American history. But Obama destroyed the "No one has ever..." barrier when it comes to the Presidency, so that's no longer a valid arguement.
I posit that Hillary is actually in what I like to call the "Heather Locklear Paradigm". Heather Locklear was a very successful TV actress in the 1990's. She catapulted to fame in TJ Hooker, became even more famous as Sammy Jo in Dynasty. Locklear was then offered the role of Amanda Woodward in Melrose Place.
MP had some big problems. Melrose Place was Darren Star's 90210 spinoff, and was not nearly as successful as it's progenitor series in its first year. It's 20 something "adult themes" left its 902010 teen audience cold, and it was definitely ratings challenged. The press turned on the show quickly. Since MP wasn't as big a hit as 90210, it was rapidly turning into a problem for the producers and the network. So what to do? Stunt casting!
Locklear was offered the Special Guest Star role to see if she could boost the shows ratings. Was the proverbial weight of the television world was on her shoulders? Not really. It was a total win-win situation for Locklear. If the MP was cancelled, she could say the ship was already sinking, I did what I could, but no one could have saved that show. But if MP was a success it was a success because of her. Needless to say, the show was big hit and made her an even bigger TV star than before.
Hillary is in the Heather Locklear Paradigm for 2012 (or 2016). If Obama rights the economy, gets re-elected and the U.S. goes through another boom period, she can ride his wave into the White House. If it all goes horribly wrong, she has all this foreign policy experience, relationships with every world leader, and no say over domestic (ie - economic) policy. So if Obama fails, she can't take any of the heat. Like Heather Locklear on MP, the Secretary of State position is win-win for our gurl Hillary.
