Obama Set to Unveil Clinton as Secretary of State

Not only did Obama and his team have to overcome a long-simmering feud, between the two camps, stemming from the primary compaign (an example: Samantha Power, booted from the Obama campaign in March for calling Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, a "monster" in an interview with the Scotsman newspaper), but also questions about Bill Clinton and his foundation. Read more about Obama Administration >>

For the fantasy to be made reality, Bill Clinton had to agree to the following:

• to refuse donations from foreign governments to the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), his annual charitable conference.
• to stop holding CGI meetings overseas.
• to step away from day-to-day management of the CGI during Hillary Clinton's term as secretary of state.
• to disclose the names of any and all contributors to his foundation since its inception in 1997, into the future
• to submit his speaking schedule to review by the State Department and White House counsel.

While Obama is set to name Clinton tomorrow, there is still the unresolved question of how exactly he can do this. Constitutionally, as I wrote earlier, because of Article One, Section Six, also known as the emoluments clause, she should be blocked from gaining that office.

No member of Congress, during the term for which he was elected, shall be named to any office "the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during his term.

Emoluments are basically pay. Since the pay for the Secretary of State has gone up, and since Clinton was a Senator during that time, you can see the problem.

I'm sure, however, Obama has a plan for this, just as he apparently had a plan for the aforementioned Samantha Power, who has returned to his transition team, focused, ironically, on the State Department.