Limbaugh Calls Clinton Pick 'Brilliant Stroke' by Obama

Dec. 1, 2008— -- Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh says he's "stunned" that Hillary Clinton accepted the job as President-elect Obama's secretary of state.

In an interview with Barbara Walters to air on "The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2008," Limbaugh called the choice of Clinton "a brilliant stroke by Obama."

Watch "Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2008" Thursday at 10 p.m. ET

After weeks of speculation, Obama formally announced Clinton as his choice for secretary of state today at a press conference in Chicago. Obama said he thought she would be "outstanding" in her new role and called his national security team -- which also includes Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Gen. Jim Jones as his national security adviser -- a "new dawn of American leadership."

Clinton thanked her former rival for the honor of the nomination and said "America cannot solve these crises without the world, and the world cannot solve these crises without America."

Still, Limbaugh said that he was "surprised she took it."

"You know the old phrase 'You keep your friends close and your enemies closer?'" Limbaugh asked. "He puts her over at secretary of state, how can she run for president in 2012? … Then she's got to run against the incumbent? And be critical of him, the one who made her secretary of state?"

Limbaugh also had praise for the President-Elect in his interview with Walters.

"I've never met him, but he appears to be a sincere and genuinely nice person," Limbaugh said. "I just happen to think that the things that he's sincere about, I hope I'm wrong, are not the best things for the country right now."