The Gates thing is a two way street for me. He could have defected and became loyal to Obama. That would make him a great asset.
I also understand that transitioning that office at this time would be potentially disastrous.
Of course, gates has been part of The Lie. Therefore undeserving of trust until earned.
He is not responsible for the Bush/Rumsfeld war crimes. I want to be clear about that.

As for Clinton, well, you know how I feel about them and you've seen their ways.
I feel she will ultimately fail as SoS for either of two reasons:

1) Once a hawk always a hawk. She's just not diplomatic by nature. Nor am I for that matter.

2) Sorry to all the ladies who will ultimately take this wrong, but she's a woman.
Our diplomatic problems lie in the Islamic world and parts of Asia. Those cultures notoriously have little if any respect for femdom.
They'll smile, nod their heads, then dismiss what she says once the meeting is over. Same results Condi got.
Condi is no less educated than Hillary, and obviously has more experience at the job. But she obtained no results. Mostly because of Bush, but also because of the mentality of those she has to deal with.

Don't misunderstand. I don't hope that she fails. It's just that my calculation says she will.
I hope not. There's a lot of lives counting on her.

We're in two wars.

We're occupying two countries. Calling them wars is buying into the neocon framing and a vote to keep them going. It would be nice to have someone in there who knew the difference and was willing to speak up, but it's going to be hard to find anyone with experience in this when only the kool-aid drinkers have been allowed in the game for the last eight years.

Anyway, I preferred Kucinich's politics (though not Kucinich so much), so I wasn't expecting Obama to be all about the kind of radical change we probably need (but can't stomach).

Slate has an interesting take on Jim Jones:

To those who worry that Hillary Clinton will turn Foggy Bottom into a fiefdom devoted to her own agenda and ambition, I have two reassuring words: James Jones.

Another way to think about this is that it gets her out of the Senate.

Elsewhere: I still say Eliot Spitzer for the SEC. I think it was wrong of him to mess with the prostitute and cheat on his wife, and I also think the whole exposure of the deal was an advance hit on him because the big financial houses/players knew that if they could get him down and beat him, he wouldn't be anywhere near the impending Democratic doom in '08. Wrong. Still hire him. He's put the luster in lustration. That big shiny building next to Union Station needs a complete bastard in charge. He's just the man for the job.

True happiness is knowing you are a hypocrite. -- Ivor Cutler