As Chris brings up in the comments, Hillary Clinton’s name has been floated as a possible candidate for Secretary of State.

There’s two competing theories at the moment.  First, that it’s true — Obama is taking a page out of the Abraham Lincoln “Team of Rivals” approach and considering nominating his greatest rival in the Democratic party to a significant cabinet post.

Conversely, there’s a school of thought being promoted by Al Giordano and others that this is all just a ruse by the Clinton people to embarrass Obama and prevent the nominations of either John Kerry or Bill Richardson to the post, as the Clinton’s view Kerry and Richardson as traitors for backing Obama.  Al makes his case here.

I’m personally in the “Team of Rivals” camp — I think nominating HRC to the position of Secretary of State would be a huge gesture of party unity, and a sign that Obama is confident enough in himself that he would appoint one of his political adversaries to his cabinet.  I think Hillary Clinton would make a fine Secretary of State, and I would much rather see her in that role than Kerry or Richardson.  It would also give the Clinton’s a vested interested in the success of an Obama administration and would reward her for putting her differences aside and campaigning for him relentlessly during the general election campaign.  A win all around in my book.

But I never hated Hillary Clinton — I just didn’t want her to be President of the United States.  A lot of other Obama supporters are still bitter, which is why they’re pushing this HRC as Machiavelli myth.  If HRC was Machiavelli, she’d be the President-Elect right now.  She’s not.  Which leads me to believe that she probably is a serious contender for Secretary of State.

I’ve been wrong before, though, so who knows if I’m right about this.  Three months from now it could be Chuck Hagel — but right now, I’m hoping this is true.  If it is, it would be a great move and a grand political gesture that helps prove Obama’s argument that he is a concillatory figure.  We’ll see.

Someone needs to tell the bloggers, the mainstream media and Sarah Palin herself that the election is over and it’s time for her to go home.

Seriously, I am so sick of hearing about her. It reminds me of when I was seventeen years old and played a popular supporting role in the school play. After the play was over, I expected my temporary and unexpected celebrity to continue. It didn’t.

Playing to a political base isn’t enough to win elections. It didn’t work for Bob Dole, it didn’t work for John McCain and it certainly didn’t work for Sarah Palin. Beloved by conservatives, the exit polls following the election showed that Palin was pretty much reviled by just about everyone else. And yet here she is at the Republican Governor’s meeting talking about Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder just like it was still November 3.

If Palin wants another shot, she needs to go back to Alaska, read up on foreign and domestic policy, and come back in four years to show that she’s a radically different candidate. If she doesn’t, then her fifteen minutes are over. There’s no way that Palin as currently defined can win the center.

But hey, at least Camille Paglia still loves her, right?