Should Clinton be involved in domestic health-care lobbying?

FP blogger Daniel Drezner asked yesterday, “Should the Secretary of State be involved in domestic lobbying?”  Drezner cites reports that Secretary Clinton made calls and attempted to persuade on-the-fence lawmakers to support the health-care reform bill that passed the House Sunday. Clearly, lobbying on domestic health-care reform is outside the job description of the position ...

By , copy chief at Foreign Policy from 2009-2016 and was an assistant editor from 2007-2009.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Mark Wilson/Getty Images

FP blogger Daniel Drezner asked yesterday, "Should the Secretary of State be involved in domestic lobbying?

FP blogger Daniel Drezner asked yesterday, “Should the Secretary of State be involved in domestic lobbying?” 

Drezner cites reports that Secretary Clinton made calls and attempted to persuade on-the-fence lawmakers to support the health-care reform bill that passed the House Sunday. Clearly, lobbying on domestic health-care reform is outside the job description of the position of U.S. secetary of state, but as Drezner mentions, Clinton isn’t your typical secretary of state — she’s one who has special expertise in health-care reform.

Given that expertise, and the political capital she has, I suppose it’s OK for Clinton to lobby for health-care reform as long as it doesn’t conflict with her foreign-policy duties and doesn’t take time away from the international matters that she must attend to.

What do you all think? Express your opinion in the FP poll above.

Preeti Aroon was copy chief at Foreign Policy from 2009-2016 and was an assistant editor from 2007-2009. Twitter: @pjaroonFP

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