Barack Obama has cited the book Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin as a key text as he prepares for the White House. He says that it showed how President Lincoln brought former enemies into his administration because he “was confident enough to be willing to have these dissenting voices”.

Although supremely confident just now, as he decides whether to make Hillary Clinton his Secretary of State, the President-elect may also be thinking of an earthier description of the same process.

President Johnson, speaking of his relationship with J Edgar Hoover of the FBI, remarked: “It’s probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in.”

For all her dutiful campaigning on Mr Obama’s behalf in the past few months, few will have forgotten the intensity of their battle for the Democratic nomination in the first half of this year.

Mrs Clinton repeatedly questioned his capability on foreign affairs and presented herself as a fierce champion of the hard-pressed American working class, not least on her signature issue of healthcare reform.

The President-elect, knowing that the economic crisis may severely constrain his options at home and facing a series of national security challenges abroad, may be reckoning he does not want to leave her in the Senate as an independent or potentially critical voice.

Mrs Clinton is an international superstar who would bring her wide experience and knowledge to the State Department. She would also carry into office all the baggage of her husband and a sense of pride — even superiority — which may not be conducive to harmony.

Having apparently allowed her name to be leaked as topping his short-list for the post however, Mr Obama would be ill-advised to disappoint either her or the considerable constituency that she still commands in the country.

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