A 'team of rivals' of his own, starting with Clinton?

Updated: November 16, 2008 - 8:01 PM

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The buzz about President-elect Barack Obama potentially selecting former rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to be his secretary of state has been unstoppable.

Take, for instance, Doris Kearns Goodwin's biography of Abraham Lincoln, "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" -- a book that both politicians have read and Obama, in particular, has embraced.

Obama said in early 2008 that the biography would serve as a guidepost for his presidency, especially when it came to having "dissenting voices" in his administration.

"Team of Rivals" was originally published in 2005 and was not on the Washington Post's or the New York Times's bestseller lists last Sunday. But after Obama's conversation with Clinton about the job, the book ranked Saturday in Amazon.com's top 20 best-sellers.

Also, the Senate's second-ranking Republican on Sunday said Clinton was a good choice.

"It seems to me she's got the experience. She's got the temperament for it. I think she would be well received around the world," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. "So my own initial reaction is it would be a very good selection."

Clinton also received the backing of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who told an Indian audience that she would make "an outstanding appointment."

Kissinger said it would also say much about Obama. "To appoint a very strong personality into a prominent Cabinet position requires a great deal of courage," he said.

Both Clinton, Obama's fiercest rival for the presidential nomination, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson interviewed with Obama in Chicago last week for the post, according to Democratic officials.

NEWS SERVICES