This is a rush transcript from "America's News HQ," November 21, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
JON SCOTT, HOST: A volcanic eruption of breaking news tonight on this Friday.
Hillary Clinton poised to accept a position as our next secretary of state. Our sources say the New York senator and former Democratic presidential candidate is very much on track for the extremely high-profile position in President-elect Barack Obama's cabinet.
And that's not all. A short while ago, we learned that Barack Obama will nominate former New York Fed chief, Timothy Geithner, to take on the massive task of helping turn this economy around as the nation's next Treasury secretary.
Guess who else might be in the same incoming cabinet alongside Hillary Clinton? New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. Word has it the one-time Clinton loyalist who threw his support behind Barack Obama in the bitter primary race is going to be nominated Commerce secretary.
Three major positions, three powerful people, the president-elect is also expected to roll out his economic team next week.
Let's get reaction now from the 1984 Democratic vice presidential nominee, Geraldine Ferraro. She is a FOX News contributor.
This Hillary Clinton thing has been sort of up and down all week. But we did get confirmation today that she will accept the position, your thoughts.
• Video: Watch Jon Scott's interview
GERALDINE FERRARO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I — from the minute I heard it, I thought she is an absolutely wonderful choice. And I think it's good in all different — three different directions.
Number one, for the country. For one thing, she has the credibility internationally to restore our image in the eyes of the world, and I think that that's really important. And I think Bill Clinton will help a lot. They are tremendously respected and I think that that will make a difference for our country.
SCOTT: But, yes.
FERRARO: That's number one. Number two, listen what's next...
SCOTT: All right.
FERRARO: I think it's wonderful for Senator Obama, President-elect Obama, President Obama.
SCOTT: No, he's not a senator anymore.
FERRARO: Well, he's president-elect and he's hopefully within the very short of period — and hopefully within the very short of time, he will be president. Now, that's important to for him to — he is reaching out to someone who had worked with him. He understands that the politics isn't necessarily the thing that's important, obviously, with the choices that he's made. That what's important is doing the best for the country and he wants his cabinet to be reflective of the best, and she is the best on these issues. I've seen her in the international community. I know what she is capable of doing and I think that that's going to be really great for him.
And they agree on virtually every issue where there is any sort of a differential, she will obviously defer to him, but they are such minor points that she will be a good voice for him.
SCOTT: Well.
FERRARO: And then the third thing is for her not to have to run for the Senate again in three years, not to have to raise to money, not to have to run all over the state, but to do the things that she believes are substantive for this country and for the future. So, in all those things, that she's a great choice.
SCOTT: Isn't there going to be some kind of an interesting, I don't know, a media triangle watching her and Bill Clinton still on the world stage, as well as President-elect Obama? I mean, where is the spotlight going to shine?
FERRARO: It's going to shine on the president, and it will shine on Hillary when she is out representing the president of the United States of America. But, you know, there is one president at one time, and you know, it's one of the things that President-elect Obama has said about George Bush. Now, he's not the president. When he gets to be president, he is the one president.
Having worked for the State Department when I was a U.N. ambassador to commission, you know, I took my direction from the head of state, from the secretary of state. The secretary of state takes directions on policy from the president of the United States, one person. So, he will be the most — President Obama will be the person who is the focus of attention. It's what he says because he represents the United States.
SCOTT: You say that they didn't have substantive disagreements but they did disagree on things like whether or not it was wise to talk to Iran without pre-conditions.
FERRARO: That's not so substantive.
SCOTT: And he made that crack about having tea with foreign leaders, you know.
FERRARO: Those are not substantive. And you know what the substantive issues are? What do they think about Russia? What do they think about Korea? They are both on the same page on these things. How do you approach the problems of the Middle East? They are on the same page on these things.
So, no, they are not substantive differences. Those are differences that come up on the campaign. You know, now, yes, what did she do as first lady? But if you take a look seriously, what she did as first lady and the things that she has done as a senator for the past eight years now, you know, there's no question at all about her credentials.
SCOTT: Does this suggest that there's going to be another extension at her White House, at her Washington digs in case that 3:00 a.m. phone call comes in?
(LAUGHTER)
FERRARO: Who knows? But in any event, now, he will be at the White House. He will take it and we're all very convince that he will handle it extremely.
SCOTT: All right. And.
FERRARO: And we hope it doesn't happen, of course.
SCOTT: And, well.
FERRARO: You know, a 3:00 a.m. that's exactly right.
SCOTT: We're not looking forward to those 3:00 a.m. phone calls.
FERRARO: That's exactly right. We're hoping that for the next eight years, for the next 100 years, that nothing like that ever happens again.
SCOTT: What about the criticism though that the Obama administration is starting to look like, you know, the third Clinton administration?
FERRARO: Now, you know, that really isn't so. And if you take a look at the people who have come in — where do you go? I mean, if you are running a corporation, you don't go to somebody to bring them in as the CEO unless they have experience. And they may have had experience with your opponent.
SCOTT: But, (INAUDIBLE) isn't supposed to be change that you can believe in?
FERRARO: Well, it is change. It's a major change from the Bush administration for the past eight years. That's the first major change. And the second major change is also that the people he's going to bring in are some people who have experience with the Clinton administration. But when you're talking about people, you know, you're talking about Geithner's now for a possibility of coming in as secretary of the Treasury and you're talking about a whole series of other governors who were not part of the Clinton administration and were not supportive of Hillary Clinton, Governor Napolitano, who we were talking about before, you know, all these people do not have ties, but you don't walk away from people who have experience simply because at one time they worked for the Clinton administration.
SCOTT: Geraldine Ferraro, it's good to talk to you.
FERRARO: Thank you.
Content and Programming Copyright 2008 FOX News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2008 ASC LLC (www.ascllc.net), which takes sole responsibility for the accuracy of the transcription. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No license is granted to the user of this material except for the user's personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be printed, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any fashion that may infringe upon FOX News Network, LLC'S and ASC LLC's copyrights or other proprietary rights or interests in the material. This is not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox