Bill, the Roadblock

At this point Barack Obama may as well consider it done — he’s got the Hillary fans all fired up and ready to go. How could he possibly NOT offer her secretary of State now?

For such a disciplined, problem-free team, it seems awfully curious that the Obama transition group would have spent this weekend working out how to navigate the tentacles of former President Bill Clinton’s many foreign entanglements AFTER meeting with Hillary last Thursday. They knew that meeting wouldn’t stay secret.

Why hadn’t they already weighed his many connections to foreign governments, companies around the world and the relationship between those connections and his personal wealth? They sure had spent some time thinking about all this during the primary season.

According to The New York Times, Bill’s foundation donors — largely undisclosed — are known to include the king of Morocco, the Saudi royal family, the governments of Qatar and Kuwait, a foundation linked to the United Arab Emirates and a “tycoon who was the son-in-law of Ukraine’s ousted authoritarian president.”

Meanwhile, The Washington Post described what would be an unprecedented arrangement: the new president “investing his fortunes” in “an outsize figure on the global scene who has been conducting a kind of privately funded foreign policy all his own since leaving office.”

Hillary is qualified — unfire-able, which could be a problem — but likely a great secretary of State. And already, from Henry Kissinger on down, the rave reviews are in from Republicans about what a good appointment this would be.

But Bill is the problem. He is surrounded by smoke; it’s hard to imagine four or eight years without fire.

SHOULD HILLARY BE SECRETARY OF STATE? IF NOT HER, WHO? Ask A.B. returns Tuesday, Nov. 18 — Please join my weekly video Q & A by sending your questions and comments to askab@digital-staging.thehill.com. Thank you.