Obama’s Talk With Clinton Starts Buzz

By JACKIE CALMES and HELENE COOPER

WASHINGTON — The end of the presidential campaign seemed to signal the completion of the Obama-Clinton drama. But now it turns out there could be a surprise ending.

Advisers to the onetime rivals for the Democratic nomination confirmed Friday that President-elect Barack Obama had met with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday afternoon at Mr. Obama’s transition office in Chicago and discussed the secretary of state job.

The prospect of Mrs. Clinton as secretary of state, perhaps the most prestigious cabinet position in any administration, sent people buzzing. But associates to both Democrats cautioned that their conversation included other cabinet possibilities and that no job was offered. Democrats said late Friday that Mr. Obama had also met with another oft-mentioned candidate for the post, Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, to discuss the secretary of state job.

Still, the fact that Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton had even met to discuss such a possibility left even some of their closest advisers and allies talking about the pros and cons of so close a partnership, and about how it would be complicated by a third wheel: Mrs. Clinton’s globe-trotting husband, former President Bill Clinton.

The possibility of Mrs. Clinton’s joining Mr. Obama in such a role has been bandied about in Washington for several months, usually with the caveat that it was somewhere between unlikely and far-fetched. But on Thursday, Mrs. Clinton was spied boarding a plane to Chicago — on “personal business,” a spokesman insisted — and by early evening a small motorcade of black sport utility vehicles emerged from the garage of the downtown Chicago building where Mr. Obama has his transition office, just minutes before Mr. Obama’s own motorcade left it. Mrs. Clinton, as a former first lady, has Secret Service protection and travels in a government S.U.V. By Friday morning, amid escalating speculation that she was a serious candidate for secretary of state, associates of both of them confirmed they had met.

Both Obama and Clinton advisers say that the relationship between the two is much more complex than one simply inspired by a keep-your-friends-close-and-your-enemies-closer philosophy. While Mr. Obama never seriously considered Mrs. Clinton as his running mate, one of his aides described him as “self-confident enough to want to send a message to the world about America and all that it can be — and Hillary Clinton as secretary of state would do that.”

The aide said that in the last few months of the campaign Mr. Obama came to appreciate the effort she made to rally her supporters on his behalf.

Should he pick her, Mr. Obama may further unite and energize his party, make clear to the world that he is serious about diplomacy, and send a substantive political signal to women.

That said, there are clear dangers for Mr. Obama as well, not least of them any lingering rivalry between the two of them after an often-contentious primary campaign. The drama-averse president-elect would also inevitably be sharing the stage with both Clintons, with all of the attention and baggage that accompany them wherever they go. And her appointment could undercut his argument that he is bringing true change to Washington.

It is not clear what room Mrs. Clinton’s presence as the nation’s top diplomat would leave for Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. to be an influential player in his specialty of foreign policy. And now that his consideration of Mrs. Clinton has become so public, he faces another danger: the risk of reopening old wounds in the party and among Democratic women in particular if he does not appoint her to a top job.

For Mrs. Clinton, there are pros and cons to taking the job as well. Senior Senate Democratic officials say it has become increasingly clear to Mrs. Clinton and her advisers that there was no quick route to a position of influence in the Senate, potentially increasing her interest in a prominent role in the Obama administration.

She had approached the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, about becoming chairwoman of a special subcommittee to handle health care issues, but he squelched the idea, Senate officials said. Aides to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, made it clear that despite his illness, he intended to consider health overhaul before the full committee that he leads.

Mrs. Clinton was also discouraged from trying to mount a challenge to any junior members of the party’s Senate leadership, one official said. In a seniority-driven institution like the Senate, it could take years for Mrs. Clinton to accumulate real power despite her status as a national political celebrity and the appeal she demonstrated in the primary season.

One potential downside for Mrs. Clinton taking a top job in the cabinet: she would presumably have to disclose much more about Mr. Clinton’s earnings, especially from foreign sources, and donors to his presidential library than they have been willing to disclose so far.

In Albany on Friday, Mrs. Clinton said she would not address reports about whether she would be offered a position in the Obama administration. “I’m not going to speculate or address anything about the president elect’s incoming administration,” she said.

In their primary battle, the Obama and Clinton campaigns had almost a blood duel over foreign policy credentials, as in the famous 3 a.m. phone call Clinton advertisement.

Mrs. Clinton’s charge that Mr. Obama was not ready to be commander in chief had left many Obama aides angry and bitter. Greg Craig, one of Mr. Obama’s top foreign policy aides, detailed in a memorandum in March what the campaign called evidence of Mrs. Clinton’s lack of foreign policy experience. Another Obama adviser, Susan Rice, said in a conference call during that period that the ability to handle a 3 a.m. crisis phone call was not something that could be acquired “merely by being married to a commander in chief.”

But as Mrs. Clinton dutifully showed up at campaign rallies this fall for Mr. Obama, it prompted speculation that she could be secretary of state. By Friday, when it erupted into full, officials from both sides of the aisle were abuzz with talk of what an Obama White House flanked by a Clinton State Department would look like. John Bolton, the former United States ambassador to the United Nations, who forecasted as early as this past July that Mrs. Clinton could wind up at the State Department, laughed as he offered the incoming president this piece of advice: “Obama should remember the rule that you never hire anybody you can’t fire, especially as secretary of state.”

Jackie Calmes reported from Washington, and Helene Cooper from Chicago. Danny Hakim contributed reporting from Albany, Patrick Healy from New York, and Carl Hulse and Jeff Zeleny from Washington.