Clinton: I Didn't Want The Job

Obama gave his secretary of state the hard sell
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 17, 2009 3:48 PM CST
Clinton: I Didn't Want The Job
Barack Obama chats with Hillary Clinton during a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009.   (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Hillary Clinton accepted the Secretary of State job only because Barack Obama badgered her into it. In a glowing profile in Vogue, Clinton tells Jonathan Van Meter that she was “stunned” Obama wanted her. “I didn't want to do it. I just really had a lot of doubts, and I kept suggesting other people.” What changed her mind? “"How do you say no?" she asks with a laugh. Adds a staffer, "Obama wouldn’t take no for an answer. He would not let her off the hook.”

What about all those campaign trail disagreements? “We didn't believe he was actually going to have coffee with Ahmadinejad,” says another staffer. “It was something he shouldn't have said in the campaign, and we pounced on it.” The British press is also atwitter over a section in which Clinton professes to have a “big crush” on UK counterpart David Miliband. “He is so vibrant, vital, attractive, smart,” she says. “And he's so young!” (More Hillary Clinton stories.)

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