Nothing’s official yet (at least not as I write this), but I’d like to take a moment to speculate about a recent headline concerning our President-elect and a certain defeated rival. Yes, the possibility of Hillary Clinton as Barack Obama’s Secretary of State is, well…that’s just it. I don’t quite know what to make of it.

On the one hand, it could be argued that Obama is merely keeping his campaign promise to eliminate the kind of divisive partisan politics that have dominated Washington in the past. Put your chief competitor by your side, a guy or two from across the aisle in your Cabinet (Chuck Hagel anyone?), and while you’re at it keep the old Secretary of Defense-you know, the one who DIDN’T lead us into a futile and meaningless war. There’s nothing wrong with this, especially if these are in fact the best candidates for the job. If Hillary Clinton’s credentials exceed those of, say, John Kerry or Bill Richardson, then by all means she should get the job. Perhaps this is just President-elect Obama surrounding himself with the best people, and if this is the case then I applaud him for his meritocratic approach to presidential appointments.

The political strategist in me, however, is not so quick to offer praise for this country-first attitude. One must at least consider the possibility that Obama, who’s shown himself to have quite a bit of street smarts in addition to that Harvard education, may have an ulterior motive in making these people his subordinates. “Hillary: The World Tour” could be good for the country, but it’s also sure to decrease the likelihood of a challenge in four years (and she certainly wouldn’t be the first junior Senator to run a presidential campaign while serving out his or her term, would she?). Plus, there’s loyalty. When’s the last time you remember a secretary of state criticizing the president who appointed them? It doesn’t happen often.

But honestly, if Obama did have some sinister reason for appointing the people around him (which is unlikely considering most of his early appointees have merely been beneficiaries of the spoils system), who would profit? Not Obama, because if the Bush administration has taught us anything it’s that beyond their own personal failures, incompetent people will inevitably cast their employer in a pretty bad light (see: Gonzalez, Alberto and Rumsfeld, Donald). And as for the rest of us, well, except for Annette Bening (or whoever’s going to star in “The Hillary Clinton Story”) we wouldn’t be particularly well-off.

So what’s the point of all this, other than to sound like Spin Doctor Junior? Well, beyond the obvious (we’re talking about Hillary Clinton as secretary of state here) there’s the fact that it’s one of our President-elect’s biggest decisions thus far, and one that will no doubt impact his tenure as President of the United States, which of course hasn’t even technically started yet. And while we’re on the topic of how there is more than two months between Election Day and Inauguration Day…but that can wait until next time.