Hillary 'OK' as top US diplomat

2008-11-17 01:14

Washington - The Senate's second-ranking Republican said on Sunday it wouldn't be a bad idea if president-elect Barack Obama named Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.

"It seems to me she's got the experience. She's got the temperament for it.

"I think she would be well received around the world," said Senator Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican.

"So my own initial reaction is it would be a very good selection."

Both Clinton, Obama's fiercest rival for the presidential nomination, and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who also ran for the White House this year, had an interview with Obama in Chicago last week for the post, according to Democratic officials.

Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, said he did not think Clinton, if nominated, would have trouble winning confirmation in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

"She's worked across the aisle, has good bipartisan relationships," Dorgan said.

In the role of chief US diplomat, Clinton "would have instant credibility around the world", he added.

He said the US has "a lot of relationships to repair and a lot of work to do, so I think she'd be a fine choice."

Richardson has extensive foreign policy experience. He was President Bill Clinton's ambassador to the United Nations and has conducted freelance diplomacy for the US in Sudan, North Korea and elsewhere.

Richardson and Clinton are not the only candidates Obama has talked to about the job, Democrats said.

- AP