Hillary Didn't Want Thankless State Department Job

Clinton eventually accepted Secretary of State position -- with some reluctance

For a brief period of time last fall, Secretary of State was the least-wanted job in America.

According to Joe Biden's wife, the then-senator from Delaware was offered his choice of Secretary of State or VP and took the latter job because he was persuaded he'd have more influence over the president that way. Secretaries of State just run themselves ragged, flying all over the world and eating heavy foods while being lectured by odious dictators.

Now it appears that Hillary Clinton had the same impression. She says that when when she was first offered the Secretary of State job, she didn't want it either:

When her name was mentioned in the media as a possible member of Obama's cabinet, Clinton said, she found the idea "absurd."

"And then when he called and asked me to come see him, and we had our first conversation, I said, 'You know, I really don't think I'm the person to do this, I want to go back to my life. I really feel like I owe it to the people of New York.' And I gave him a bunch of other names of people who I thought would be great secretaries of state."

But Hillary, as a responsible citizen and patriot, realized that nobody else would ever consider this thankless job -- and, since the president-elect had asked her, she was duty-bound to accept it.

Now the lonely former senator wanders the earth, trapped in an endless fugue of long-haul flights, airplane food, and harangues from angry foreigners. (Plus she doesn't get to see her husband very much.)

We should thank her for her brave service to the nation -- and for taking the job that nobody else would.

Overseas correspondent Sara K. Smith writes for NBC and Wonkette.

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