THE current wisdom in Washington has it that Hillary Clinton, set to be named United States secretary of state in Chicago today, will be little more than a glorified ambassador for Barack Obama in her new and somewhat unexpected role.
It was only in March, during the Democrats' acrimonious primary battle, that Mr Obama mockingly questioned Mrs Clinton's qualifications as a former first lady for dealing with America's friends and enemies abroad: "What exactly is this foreign polic
y experience? Was she negotiating treaties? Was she handling crises? The answer is no."
Once the Obama presidency begins, real power will be held and closely guarded by a far more experienced White House team that the president will use to formulate policy, leaving Mrs Clinton as little more than the smile on a new, more friendly approach to the outside world.
But Mrs Clinton has the chance, even in such restricted circumstances, to shine, not least if she can prove herself a smooth negotiator amid the galaxy of problems facing the US abroad.
Secretary of state is not the job Mrs Clinton wanted. Her speciality is healthcare, and she had been itching for another try at the bold reforms she tried, and failed, to push through during her husband Bill's administration.
But that bitter primary battle with Mr Obama has left the president-elect apparently determined to keep her out of domestic affairs.
And his decision to appoint her as secretary of state says much about his style of government.
He has already made it clear that, while he wants advice and works with a team, he is the boss.
While he has hand-picked trusted officials to spearhead his ambitious agenda for change, he apparently neither likes, nor trusts, Mrs Clinton.
During the primary campaign earlier this year, he claimed Mrs Clinton's foreign policy was caught up in the politics of fear and accused her of political expediency in voting, as a senator, for the war in Iraq, a conflict he opposed.
Shunting her off to the state department is seen as a way of getting her out of harm's way: had she been excluded from any job in the administration, she would have remained in the Senate, possibly to craft a bid to run again for president in 2016 or even, if Mr Obama becomes unpopular, in 2012.
Meanwhile, the president-elect already has a surfeit of foreign policy advisers that he trusts: Susan Rice, who once worked in the Bill Clinton administration, is his guru, providing solid academic expertise.
Joe Biden, who will be vice-president, has spent years in the Senate overseeing foreign policy, and he will be the man Mr Obama turns to for advice on crisis management.
Experience of a more direct sort comes from a retired Marine Corps general, who is rumoured to be his choice for as national security adviser.
Mrs Clinton, by contrast, has little to bring to the party. She claimed in the primary campaign that she had plenty of foreign policy experience travelling as first lady with husband Bill.
But this claim was scotched by Mr Obama, and then torpedoed by Mrs Clinton herself, when she claimed, falsely, to have endured sniper fire during a visit with her husband to Bosnia. "I remember landing under sniper fire," she recounted in a speech. "There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."
Soon enough, video footage surfaced of Mrs Clinton's unremarkable airport arrival ceremony, during which she was welcomed by dignitaries and posed for photos with children.
None of that matters now, of course, but she might want to look at recent political history for some lessons on her new job, and how little it can matter. Colin Powell, a former army general, was appointed to the office when George Bush took office in 2000, only to be sidelined because he was not part of the neoconservative core of his administration.
Some even wonder why, given these obstacles and the very real antipathy between her and Mr Obama, she decided to take the job at all.
The short answer is that there was a lack of alternatives. This time last year, the Clintons were the Democratic Party, largely thanks to Bill's successful two-term presidency.
All that has now changed. Mr Obama has 3,000 government vacancies to fill and this has seen the entire axis of the party pivot towards him.
Mrs Clinton must sense too that, even if she will have minimal input into US foreign policy, she will nevertheless get the chance to shine.
For one thing, we can expect to see her trademark grin on a string of high-profile foreign visits. And that should be an enjoyable experience in itself, given that, not for many years, apart from in a few select countries, has a US secretary of state been met by cheering crowds on their travels.
For another, the myriad of foreign policy crises confronting the US will leave plenty of opportunities for Mrs Clinton to shine if not as a policy leader, than as a deal-maker. Iraq, the war in Afghanistan and what to do about the foreign prisoners still held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba will be matters dealt with by the White House itself. But in other areas, her intelligence, charm and energy will leave her well-positioned to act as a negotiator for Mr Obama as he tries to rebrand the US as a more caring, listening partner to its allies.
Finding an international consensus to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions is an obvious place for her to make her mark, if she proves herself able to handle protracted negotiations with Russia, the European Union and Iran itself.
Then there is a markedly left-leaning South America, the governments of which will need to be convinced that re-engagement with the US can benefit both parties.
Re-engaging with Europe should be an easy assignment, if she can find a way of dealing with Russia that keeps Germany and eastern European states happy.
And then there is Israel. Mr Obama might like to take the lead here in trying, as so many presidents have done before, to act as midwife to an Israeli-Arab peace settlement.
But, given the complexities of the problem, it will be Mrs Clinton, as the official on the ground, who will have to craft it.
A permanent settlement will depend on the willingness of the parties involved, but Mrs Clinton has the opportunity to at least get all sides talking again, and perhaps agreeing to various compromises that will soften some of the tensions.
It is just the sort of problem that a spurt of shuttle-diplomacy could deal with, if the former first lady proves adept at finding the balance between toughness and charm that other negotiators have, in the past, found elusive.
And any kind of settlement in the Middle East would offer the possibility of the Nobel Peace Prize, some consolation, at least, for having failed to win the prize she had really set her heart on: the presidency of the United States.
Ex-president names names to help wife land top jobBILL Clinton has agreed to disclose the names of more than 200,000 donors to his foundation as part of an agreement to clear the way for his wife to become secretary of state.
The former United States president has kept his contributor list secret until now, as permitted under federal law, but he has decided to release it to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest with his wife's duties, Democrat sources said.
The contributor disclosure is one of nine conditions that Mr Clinton signed up to during discussions with representatives of president-elect Barack Obama, all of which go beyond the requirements of law.
He also agreed to incorporate his Clinton Global Initiative separately from the foundation, so that he has less direct involvement. In addition, it will no longer hold annual meetings outside the US or accept any foreign government contributions.
The former president agreed to submit his personal speeches and business activities to officials from the state department and, if necessary, the White House counsel's office for review.
Mr Clinton's extended web of business and philanthropic activities raised questions about how he could continue to travel the world soliciting multimillion-dollar contributions for his foundation and six-figure speaking fees for himself from foreign organisations and individuals while his wife conducted US foreign policy.
Lawyers spent days crafting the agreement. Mr Clinton said he would do whatever the Obama team asked to make it possible for his wife to serve without questions.
In the eight years since he left the White House, Mr Clinton has built a new life as a businessman and philanthropist, which has made him rich while he helped fight Aids, malaria, malnutrition and other maladies around the world. Since its formation a decade ago, the William J Clinton Foundation has raised more than $500 million (£325 million) to build a presidential library and finance charitable programmes.
He has never revealed his contributors, but they include the Saudi royal family, the king of Morocco, a foundation linked to the United Arab Emirates and the governments of Kuwait and Qatar
.
