President Obama chose Hillary Clinton as secretary of state partly because
he wanted to:

speculation about Barack Obama tapping former rival Hillary Clinton to join his team as secretary of State is gaining serious momentum. Apparently Obama has already become bored with the presidency and wouldn’t mind shaking things up a bit by inviting the drama-prone Clintons back into the White House. Clinton would surely be a capable diplomat whom the world would embrace with open arms. But what else might be behind Obama’s thinking  or Clinton’s, for that matter?

• Jonathan Freedland notes that “Obama partly passed over Hillary as V.P. because he didn’t want to import the Clinton family psychodrama into his White House,” but Hillary as secretary of State will invite the same “back-seat driver implications.” However, it’ll also “demonstrate great confidence on Obama’s part” that he won’t be “upstaged by a global celeb such as Hillary.” Of course, if he doesn’t pick Hillary, “he’d better have a pretty good explanation” or her supporters will be “mad at him all over again.” [Guardian UK]

d. dr. francis collins