During the campaign through to the inauguration, President Obama has laid out a change in style for US foreign policy, moving from, in his view, the unbalanced approach of the Bush administration to one that takes into account consultations with allies and the importance of negotiations. In her confirmation hearings (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/14/clinton-touts-smart-powe...), Secretary of State Clinton gave a name to the new strategy, “smart power.”

I have to admit when I heard the possibility of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State I thought it was a ridiculous choice. Here’s Senator Clinton, who in the primary bragged about “coming under gunfire” in Bosnia and whose “deep” foreign policy experience included tea with such foreign leaders as President Obama’s foreign policy chief. But then I thought about it a little more and realized that it is a shrewd political choice that aims to neutralize the Clintons and their followers within the Democratic Party.

Graphic design has always eeked its way into presidential campaigns. Many remember the famous analysis of the Bush/Cheney and Kerry/Edwards logos which analyzed everything from the choice of fonts (obnoxiously bolded sans serif vs. light highbrow serif) to the placement of the flags (firmly anchored vs. flying off the page). All this seemed to confirm Bush’s brawny, strength-obsessed politics, versus the perception of Kerry as an elite weakling.

Hillary has to bow out of the race...eventually. While I would initially set a timeline that ends shortly after the last primaries on June 3rd, I must quickly remind myself that this is Clinton. I probably would be better off trying to get Bush to set a withdrawal date for Iraq than trying to get Hillary to set a withdrawal date for her candidacy.

Obama may be oh-so-close to the nomination now, but this may be as close as he will be for a while. Although he does not need many more delegates to clinch the nomination, Clinton probably will change the math (the real math, not the one in her mind) soon.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton won a large but largely symbolic victory in the West Virginia primary Tuesday over Barack Obama, still the leader and closing in on the Democratic presidential nomination.

The Associated Press made its call based on surveys of voters as they left the polls.

Obama conceded defeat in advance in the state as he looked ahead to the Oregon primary later in the month and the campaign against Republican John McCain.

"This is our chance to build a new majority of Democrats and independents and Republicans who know that four more years of George Bush just won't do," Obama said in Missouri, which looms as a battleground state in the fall.