Clinton getting secretary of state post

By Joseph Williams, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- Hillary Clinton has agreed to serve as Secretary of State in President-elect Barack Obama's cabinet, and her nomination to the post will be announced after the Thanksgiving holiday, a member of the presidential transition team said today.

A key stumbling block over Senator Clinton's appointment -- full financial disclosure of international dealings and contributors to the foundation of her husband, President Bill Clinton -- have been worked out, according to the senior aide, who did not want to be identified because he is not authorized to speak publicly. Obama and Senator Clinton have been working out the final details, the aide said, while the president-elect's advisers work to fill out the final slots on the new national security team.

The New York Times is also reporting this afternoon that she has decided to give up her Senate seat and accept the position, quoting two confidants.

Meanwhile, Obama is also expected to name Tim Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve, as his treasury secretary, according to NBC News and the Times.

That would mean Obama has bypassed former Harvard president Lawrence Summers, who was treasury secretary under President Clinton and, at the time, Geithner's boss. Bloomberg is reporting that he will get a senior adviser's role in the White House.

As the nominee for one of the most influential cabinet posts, Clinton would face a confirmation hearing before her former colleagues in the Senate, but analysts predict she would be confirmed with little opposition.

Now allies, Clinton and Obama engaged a long, bitter fight for the Democratic presidential nomination, a battle that divided the party along racial and gender lines. Obama repeatedly criticized Clinton for voting to authorize the Iraq war, while she suggested he wasn't ready to lead the nation through an unexpected crisis.

They also sparred over their policies on Pakistan and other issues, and their records and credentials on foreign relations.

Their rivalry exploded in late spring when party officials, weighing what to do about disputed primary votes in Michigan and Florida, ruled in Obama's favor, guaranteeing him the nomination. Powerful Clinton allies talked of boycotting the party's convention in Denver, and her angry grassroots supporters threatened to vote for Republican nominee John McCain out of spite.

After weeks of talks this summer, Clinton and Obama eventually buried the hatchet: he agreed to help her retire a massive campaign debt, and she agreed to campaign for him during the general election. Still, evidence of the split lingered when her supporters urged Obama to pick her as his running mate. When Obama chose Joe Biden of Delaware, Clinton's backers pushed Obama to pick her for a high-profile cabinet post.