SpyTalk

THE CLINTON BUBBLE: Hillary Clinton's name was run up the nominations flagpole last week, and already it's looking like the Star Spangled Banner in the red rockets' glare.  Notwithstanding that no less than President-elect Obama himself declined to rule out Clinton as his secretary of state last night,  there's growing skepticism that Hillary's husband would accede to a confirmation process that would spotlight his messy finances, re-ignite rumors of sexual dalliances, and raise the specter of his ego hovering over State like the Met Life blimp at a World Series game.  What surprises me, though, is how little comment has been directed at (1) Hillary's lone, tumultuous stint as a CEO of a major corporation: her campaign; and (2) the public relations style of her Senate office staff, who have been compared to Nixon's White House Dobermans. Both factors fly in the face of basic Obamanomics: No drama queens, and -- for  now, at least -- transparency in governance..... 

PARDON ME: "Speculation is rampant," Newsweek's Mike Isikoff and Mark Hosenball report, that "allies" of I. "Scooter" Libby, the Dick Cheney aide who was convicted of lying to investigators about his role in leaking the true identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame, will ask President Bush to pardon him. But that's not much of a surprise, is it?  Bush has already commuted his Libby's sentence. And there's a family precedent for wiping the slate clean for officials involved in intelligence shenanigans. On Christmas Eve, 1992, his father pardoned six figures involved in the Reagan-Bush administration's Iran-contra, arms-for-hostages scandal: Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger; National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane; former Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams; and three CIA officials: Clair George, the former head of the CIA's clandestine services, Duane Clarridge and Alan Fiers. Interestingly, Iran was in the background of the most notorious pardon in Bill Clinton's exit: Marc Rich, the fugitive businessman who was doing business with the Islamic terrorist regime. With a pardon,  Libby theoretically could pursue the return of his $250,000 fine, which he paid with a cashier's check drawn on his $5 million defense fund.  But it's hard to imagine many Republicans carrying that banner when they have so much else on their minds. Plus, does Libby need it? The conservative Hudson Institute took care of him with a cushy fellowship, and the erstwhile lawyer will be eligible for reinstatement to the bar in 2012....

HOMELAND WRECKERS? With former DHS Inspector General Clark Kent Irvin co-chairing the Obama transition project at the management-challenged Homeland Security Department, the President-elect may well be presented with some radical suggestions for change. Don't be surprised if they include resetting two of its components to their pre-9/11 status, FEMA and the Secret Service, who were doing fine, thank you very much, until the politically expedient department was created in 2002....

WHAT'LL YOU HAVE BARACK? At the end of a hard day's work, President Obama could do worse than turn to James B. Steinberg, one of his top national security advisors, for a cold beer and an understanding ear. Long before he became one of Washington's most respected foreign policy hands, the affable Steinberg did a stint as a bartender at Columbia Station, a popular joint in D.C.'s funky Adams Morgan neighborhood. Steinberg had just graduated from Yale Law in 1978 and was studying for, well, the bar.  It turned out to be good training: Steinberg went on to work for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate Armed Service Committee, Jimmy Carter's Justice Department, and for Bill Clinton as deputy national security advisor, among other high posts. Currently, when he's not serving up foreign policy ideas to Obama, he's dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University Of Texas, Austin.