Senator Hillary Clinton is forbidden from being the nation's Secretary of State—by the Constitution! All the hope in the world can't get around that little document, you monster. Here's the Constitutional bit in question, Article I, Section 6:

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time.

"Emoluments" is an old-tymey Constitution word for "scrill." And hey, wouldn't you know, between Clinton's 2006 reelection and now, the salary for Secretary of State went up to $191,300!

This has actually, as you might imagine, happened before, lots of times. Usually Congress just passes a bill cutting the salary. But what is different about this nomination, as opposed to the times this has come up in the past? Crazy obsessive anti-Clinton bloggers!

"There's no getting around the Constitution's Ineligibility Clause, so Hillary Clinton is prohibited from serving in the Cabinet until at least 2013, when her current term expires," said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch. "Barack Obama should select someone who is eligible for the position of secretary of state and save the country from a constitutional battle over Hillary Clinton's confirmation."

Clinton flack Philippe Reines' response is pretty choice: "This is a Harvard Law grad nominating a Yale Law grad here, so all parties involved have been cognizant of this issue from the outset." BURN.