This is a rush transcript from "On the Record ," November 17, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Could Senator Clinton soon be Secretary of State Clinton? Senator Clinton met with President-elect Obama to talk about the job. Rumors are flying and Senator Clinton is the talk of the town.
For his part, President Bill Clinton says this about his wife, Senator Clinton. "She worked very hard for Obama's election after the primary with him, and so did I. And we were very glad that he won and we have a lot of confidence that he can do a good job. But she didn't do what she did with the hope of or expectation of getting any kind of job offer, much less having this discussed. If he decided to ask her and they did it together, I think she'll be really great as the secretary of state. Whatever happens or doesn't happen is between Obama and her."
So will Senator Clinton be our secretary of state? Joining us live is Jonathan Allen, reporter for CQPolitics.com. Jonathan! Well, is she?
JONATHAN ALLEN, CQPOLITICS.COM: Well, I don't know if she's going to end up with this job, but like all inspired political decisions, and this is certainly a fascinating one to watch, there are sort of good reasons and bad reasons to do this. The good reasons being, of course, that Senator Obama looks like he's reaching out to a rival. The Clintons are well regarded around the world, and the people might see a return trip for them around the world as a good thing.
The sort of darker side of it might be getting out a domestic policy obstacle from the Senate. She obviously commands a lot of attention and could be a problem for him on domestic policy issues. And also, he gets to control her future going forward if she's secretary of state. And there's still a question as to what her role would be vis-a-vis Joe Biden, the former Foreign Relations chairman, or actually currently the Foreign Relations chairman. Will he end up being sort of a de facto secretary of state?
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, actually, that's going to be the subject of our poll question you're raising about Vice President Biden. Now, here's the thing is that (INAUDIBLE) he'll look good. He doesn't have to look good. He's got a guaranteed four years. So he's safe there. If he chooses her, he runs the risk that he's got two secretaries of state, not just one, because she's -- you know, she has a husband who's very influential. It's not like she's a problem in the Senate in that she's not in the leadership. She still is the junior senator from the United States Senate. So I guess the only reason to pick her is because she's talented and can do the job.
ALLEN: Well, I think that's a lot of the reason to pick her. I mean, obviously, she wouldn't be in contention for a job like secretary of state, which is such an important cabinet position and such a venerated and old cabinet position that's she's fourth in line to the presidency, if it gets to that. There's no way he'd be considering her if he didn't think that she was talented.
VAN SUSTEREN: What happened to Senator John Kerry? I mean, he was -- that's the one we were talking about the other day. What happened to him?
ALLEN: Sounds like he's on the junior varsity right now.
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, I mean, he's vanished. I mean, no one even -- I mean, you don't even hear his name (INAUDIBLE)
ALLEN: I mean, the things that you haven't heard knocked down recently are that Clinton's in contention and that Bill Richardson might potentially be in contention, a swell. I haven't heard a lot about John Kerry recently.
VAN SUSTEREN: So he doesn't -- so he's not looking for some other job, as far as we know.
ALLEN: Not at the moment. I mean, obviously, that's what he really was interested in.
VAN SUSTEREN: He's going to be very unhappy...
(CROSSTALK)
ALLEN: He doesn't (ph) want to hop into Davos. You know, I mean, this is -- this is John Kerry's want, to sort of globe trot a little bit.
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, he's going to be very unhappy since he did endorse Senator Obama, now President-elect Obama, very early on and -- and as opposed to Senator Clinton, and now she could sort of, you know, ice him out of the job, beat him to he punch.
ALLEN: Democrats are re-learning the idea that the president doesn't owe anybody anything. Once he gets elected, you owe him.
VAN SUSTEREN: Is -- what -- in terms of the Senate, is -- I mean, the Senate doesn't -- I mean, she's been influential in the Senate, but there's no huge hole there, so there'll be a Democratic replacement.
ALLEN: Yes, there would be -- almost certainly -- well, I wouldn't say that, not necessarily Democratic replacement. Rudy Giuliani might be able to run for that Senate seat eventually. I mean, there would be a Democrat appointed to that seat short-term, but Democrats might have to fight in New York. Now, she's not chairman of a committee or anything like that, but Hillary Clinton can command a huge presence in the Senate, particularly on an issue like, say, health care. And she's obviously got a big following from the primary. So she would be a force in the Senate even without a chairmanship by dint of her personality and her fame.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Let's bring up -- you brought up Vice President Biden -- Vice President-elect Biden, I should say. You think he's crazy about this idea?
(LAUGHTER)
ALLEN: You know, I don't know. I don't know where he's -- where he is in hatching it. It depends on what the roles are for the two of them, and I'm sure that's one of those details that'll be discussed, if they, in fact, get to the point where there's an offer and acceptance. I can't imagine somebody of Hillary Clinton's ability or somebody of Joe Biden's ability letting all of that happen without working that out a little bit.
VAN SUSTEREN: There would be three different secretaries of state. Discussed if we get back to the time when there is an acceptance. I cannot imagine any body of his ability letting all of this happen without working this out.
VAN SUSTEREN: Actually, then we'll have three secretaries of state. We'll have President Clinton, Senator Clinton and Vice President Biden -- elect Biden all wanting the same job.
ALLEN: Not to mention the president of the United States, Barack Obama, who is clearly very popular around the world.
VAN SUSTEREN: So that'd be three. So it's always interesting never - - it's never dull, so it'll be an interesting dynamic. Jonathan, do not go away because I need you some more, so do not go away.
ALLEN: OK.
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