Obama aides say Clinton 'on track' for secretary of state job

President-elect Obama is on track to nominate Sen. Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state after Thanksgiving.
Clinton senior adviser Philippe Reines repeated a statement that "any and all speculation about Cabinet or other administration appointments is for President-Elect Obama's transition team to address."
CNN also has learned that Obama is getting foreign policy advice from an unlikely source: Republican Brent Scowcroft, who was national security adviser in the first Bush administration.
Two sources familiar with the conversations confirm to CNN that Obama reached out to Scowcroft for phone chats even before he ran for president, and the back-and-forth has continued in recent days as the president-elect assembles his Cabinet.
Scowcroft is very close to current Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is rumored to be in the running to stay in the Cabinet for at least an interim period at the start of the new Obama administration.
During a recent appearance on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS," Scowcroft said it would be a wise move for Obama to keep Gates in the Cabinet.
"I actually think it would send the kind of signal that I think the president-elect intends, or spoke about in his campaign, and that is that we need to work together. We need to work as Americans," Scowcroft said. "And I think giving Bob Gates some more time to do the kinds of things he's doing would be a very wise course of action."
But a senior Obama aide told CNN not to see the conversations as a signal that Gates may keep his job. "Don't read anything into this -- he was an admirer [of Scowcroft] long before running or even needing to select" a secretary of defense, the Obama aide said.
The Obama aide said the president-elect "respects and admires Gen. Scowcroft's bipartisan, pragmatic approach to foreign policy," adding that Obama "looks forward to continuing the dialogue with Gen. Scowcroft -- as well as other key Republicans, Democrats and independents -- to get the very best advice."
Scowcroft, who opposed the war in Iraq, is a fierce critic of the current Bush administration's approach.
"I think we developed in the Republican Party a -- well, you know, the buzzword for it is "neoconism,' " Scowcroft said on CNN earlier this month. "But I think what it is, it's an ideology -- it's really an idealistic approach to things. But it's a combination of idealism and, if you will, brute force."
On Thursday, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle told CNN that he is excited about the possibility of heading the Department of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration, where he would be the point person in helping to reform the nation's health care system.
Three sources close to Obama's transition team told CNN on Wednesday that the president-elect's choice to lead HHS is the former senator, if he passes the vetting process.
Daschle himself is on the health care advisory group of Obama's transition team.