Hillary Clinton Leaving State Department

Hillary Clinton is reportedly preparing to step down from her position as Secretary of State, prompting rumors that she will make a run for president in 2016.

#Hillary2016 began trending on Twitter following Mitt Romney’s concession speech, but Clinton has said she does not plan on running for president again. Instead, she has expressed her intention to leave the State Department at the end of her four-year term.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Wednesday, “I don’t think the secretary’s plans have changed. You’ve heard her say many times that she intends to see through a transition of a successor and then she will go back to private life and enjoy some rest and think and write and all those things.”

Clinton remained popular throughout her four years as President Obama’s Secretary of State even as his popularity declined from when he was first elected. She recently recorded an approval rating of almost 70 percent, and one poll suggested that she would have won by a landslide if she had run for president instead of Obama.

If the rumors are true, one of the president’s first and biggest challenges in his second term will be naming Clinton’s successor. It is rumored that Sen. John Kerry, National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon, and UN Ambassador Susan Rice are on the shortlist to succeed Clinton. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Rice is at the top of the list despite her controversial remarks about the September 11 attacks in Benghazi.

Whoever the president chooses will face challenges in various parts of the world including Syria and the Arab world, Afghanistan, Mali, Iran, and China. Now that the election is over and Clinton is allegedly planning to leave shortly after the inauguration, she and the president will be able to have a discussion about her leaving and how to transition her successor into his or her new role.

Who do you think should be the new Secretary of State after Hillary Clinton leaves?