In his November 23 New York Post column commenting on news reports that President-elect Barack Obama will nominate Sen. Hillary Clinton to be his secretary of state, Fox News political analyst and syndicated columnist Dick Morris wrote that "[n]either Clinton nor Obama has spent five minutes conducting any aspect of foreign policy in the past. Neither has ever negotiated anything or dealt with diplomatic issues," adding, “It is the blonde leading the blind.”

Morris also claimed that Clinton “will be a loose cannon as secretary of state, vindicating her own agenda rather than that of the president and burnishing her own image at every turn,” echoing similar claims by other media figures.

From Morris' November 23 New York Post column:

It is still hard to believe but, if Hillary Clinton's “confidantes” are to be trusted, Barack Obama is about to appoint her secretary of state and she is about to accept. This appointment represents the capstone of betrayal of Obama's promise to be the “change we can believe in.”

Having upended the Democratic Party, largely over his different views on foreign policy and the war in Iraq, he now turns to the leader of the ancient regime he ousted, derided, mocked and criticized to take over the top international-affairs position in his administration.

No longer, apparently, does he distrust Hillary's “judgment,” as he did during the debates when he denounced her vote on the Iraq War resolution. Now, all is forgiven. After all, Obama's election, the only change he apparently truly believed in, is a fait accompli.

Apart from the breathtaking cynicism of the appointment lies the total lack of foreign-policy experience in the new partnership. Neither Clinton nor Obama has spent five minutes conducting any aspect of foreign policy in the past. Neither has ever negotiated anything or dealt with diplomatic issues. It is the blonde leading the blind.

[...]

Hillary will be a loose cannon as secretary of state, vindicating her own agenda rather than that of the president and burnishing her own image at every turn.

Either Obama has chosen to put himself in this untenable situation because he is not wise in the ways of Washington or because he plans to be little more than a figurehead. Given his campaign, neither seems likely. But his promise of change has proven so bankrupt that maybe the rest of his candidacy is, too.