GEORGE SCHULTZ ELOGIA HILLARY CLINTON

George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, also lauds the Clinton appointment. "I think she could be a very good secretary of state," he says. "She is well-informed, she's got lots of energy--intellectual energy and physical energy--to do the job. She's curious. She reads. She works very hard. She can listen. And she's known around the world, so she has standing. All those things would stand her in good stead."
Shultz's major concern is not with her abilities or positions, but rather the dynamic between the two former nemeses. "The key is her relationship with the president. That has to be close," he says. "It has to be very clear that they're close, and it has to be clear to all the people she's dealing with that there is no daylight between her and the president, otherwise the whole thing falls down."
Shultz downplays the importance of major policy differences between Obama and Clinton. "It always seems to me that your first criterion has to be high competence," he says. "And obviously you want someone who is, philosophically and politically, reasonably in tune with you. But when you sacrifice the former for the latter, you get in trouble."
He also thinks that Obama is a strong enough leader to set the policy agenda for his administration. "In the end, he's the one who will have to decide," Shultz says. "And she's the one who has to recognize that he's the one who got elected. When you win an election, that's what happens."