By KIRK VICTOR
Jody Powell, President Jimmy Carter's press secretary, said in a recent interview that he has concerns that former President Bill Clinton's far-flung business interests could well get in the way of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's ability to perform as secretary of State.
"It seems to me it will be very, very hard for her to do her job as secretary of State and for him to continue the work that he wants to do in terms of raising money and all of that even if you could avoid an actual conflict -- which I think would be hard. I worry that they would constantly be hit with [charges about] the appearance of conflict."
"It just seems to me that there are some very knotty, built-in problems in that situation that I don't see how you cut," Powell continued.
When pressed on whether President-elect Obama seemed to be reneging on his promise of "change," given the Establishment figures he is putting in top Cabinet posts, Powell said this extraordinarily difficult period demands Cabinet choices of depth and experience.
"I'm sure there will be, and already have been, complaints that he didn't go off and find somebody that nobody had ever heard of for key positions," Powell said. "We are in such a mess as a country, internationally and domestically, we don't have the luxury of indulging that sort of, 'well, maybe they will work out -- let's give it a try.'"
Comparing Obama's choices with the kinds of people that Carter picked, such as Cyrus Vance, a pillar of the foreign policy establishment who became secretary of State despite Carter's promise to bring change, Powell added: "Carter... picked people with experience in government, but he also pursued and didn't back off promises he made during the campaign, and that was not a problem. They supported him. They supported what he was trying to do. That is the key -- sitting down and getting to know somebody and letting them know what you plan to do and taking [the] measure of whether they are prepared to march along with you."
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