Hillary’s New Territory

Although this page supported Barack Obama during the Democratic presidential primaries, we never questioned Hillary Clinton’s intelligence, competence and determination. Only a fool would do so. She has been an effective voice for the state in the Senate and proved to be a genuine consensus-builder in an increasingly divided and dysfunctional capital.

The president-elect could not have made a better choice for secretary of state. Mrs. Clinton has been a public figure of global significance for nearly two decades. Now, she will be the public face of the United States as a new administration seeks to mend international fences. For New York, of course, Mrs. Clinton’s appointment represents a genuine loss. She was the first—and still the only—woman ever elected to statewide office in New York on her own (sorry, lieutenant governors don’t count). Her candidacy in 2000 inspired a generation of New York women, some of whom despaired of ever seeing a female in high office in this proudly progressive state.

Many New Yorkers probably believed they were electing not a senator but a future president when they sent Mrs. Clinton to Washington in 2001. Their disappointment was palpable this summer, when Mrs. Clinton’s ambitions ran smack into an immovable object called history. She probably will never reach the mountaintop, but as secretary of state, Mrs. Clinton will be one of the world’s most influential people. She has a chance to make a difference, which, she says, is all she ever wanted to do.

How to replace a politician who became a cultural as well as a political icon? Governor David Paterson, who will choose Mrs. Clinton’s successor, has no shortage of willing volunteers. Many Democrats figured that Mrs. Clinton and her colleague Charles Schumer had a lock on the state’s Senate seats for a generation. Now more than a half-dozen Democrats are signaling their availability.

Mr. Paterson said he will not announce his choice until Mrs. Clinton resigns her seat. That will not happen, it seems, until she wins Senate confirmation for her new post. So there will be no vacancy until the new year. That will give Governor Paterson plenty of time to vet the candidates.

The choice of a new senator will be one of the governor’s most important decisions. Surely the governor should not limit his choice to politicians. Why not look at individuals with proven leadership, such as Police Commissioner Ray Kelly—no one is smarter on crime and terrorism, and he has Washington experience. Or Harold Varmus, head of Memorial Sloan Kettering and former head of the National Institutes of Health—he would be a terrific champion for health care. Or how about Dick Parsons, the head of Time Warner, who would bring financial expertise and a cool head. The private sector is filled with great candidates who could bring much-needed restraint and good judgement to Washington. New York has sent giants to the Senate over the last 100 years. The careers of Robert F. Wagner Sr., Herbert Lehman, Jacob Javits, Robert F. Kennedy, Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Mrs. Clinton herself argue in favor of an inspired choice. New York needs a giant. With any luck, Mr. Paterson will find one.