Answer the questions at the end based on the text.

Washington (CNN)Hillary Clinton's most vocal critics have long tried to tie the former secretary of state to President Barack Obama, hoping that her 2016 run would be dragged down by the somewhat unpopular president.

But ahead of Tuesday's State of the Union address, critics say Clinton is making their job easy.

Tim Miller, the executive director of America Rising, an anti-Clinton communications and research super PAC, argues in talking points to other Republicans that Clinton is tying herself to Obama by working with and hiring many of his staffers ahead of her all-but-certain 2016 run.

"By hiring his key political and policy staff and making no public moves to place clear distance between herself and the President on issues likely to be front and center in the coming Congress, Clinton is signaling that she's not just from the same party as the President, but that she's an Obama Democrat, who will back his policies, pursue his agenda, and represent a Third Term of the Obama Administration," Miller argues in a memo to the group's supporters.

Since last year, Clinton has been meeting with a broad array of Democratic operatives and possible campaign staffers ahead of a possible 2016 run. But in the last month, Clinton has reportedly began to tap certain Democratic operatives -- many with ties to Obama's two successful presidential runs -- for certain jobs on her nascent campaign.

John Podesta, a top aide on the Obama White House, has said a number of times that he plans to leave the White House in early February and would happily work for Clinton is she runs.

1. Who was tied to the president?
2. How did her critics feel?
3. which run were they thinking of?
4. Who was Tim Miller?
5. What was that?
6. What did they believe?
7. how?
8. Did she make a clear distance between them?
9. Is she the same party?
10. Has she met with anyone?

Numbered answers:

A: 1. Hillary Clinton.
2. Clinton is making their job easy.
3. 2016 Run for president.
4. Executive director of America Rising
5. A suiper-PAC.
6. Clinton was tying herself to Obama.
7. working with and hiring many of his staffers
8. No.
9. Yes she is.
10. Yes she has.

Question: (CNN) -- As President Obama's second-term Cabinet starts to take shape, we can see some of the outlines of what the White House hopes to do in the next four years.

The major theme is that Obama is prepared to defend his turf, tooth and nail. This is a Cabinet whose strength is defense rather than offense.

Gone are the hopes of bipartisanship. Now it's time to really engage the partisan battle. Obama won't be pushing for many watershed changes in the next four years, but he is not going to make it easy for Republicans to make any deep inroads into what he has accomplished.

During the last two weeks, the president rolled out his nominations on national security -- Sen. John Kerry for secretary of state, Sen. Chuck Hagel for secretary of defense, and John Brennan to direct the CIA. He then nominated his chief of staff, Jack Lew, to be secretary of the treasury.

We must be careful not to infer too much from presidential appointments, since these people ultimately serve the interests of the president rather than vice versa -- but still, the identities of the members of the new Cabinet provide important hints.

This is a team with experience and deep roots in Washington. It is clear that Obama, sobered after four brutal years of fighting with Republicans in Congress, realizes that he needs leaders who have clout in Congress.

On national security, this is a team with deep experience that can protect the existing policies the administration has adopted. Obama has selected two Senate veterans who are also military veterans, Kerry and Hagel, with the hope of using their connections with legislators and their knowledge of the ways and means of the legislative process. 1. Who is ready to defend their turf?
2. What is starting to take shape for him?
3. What term?
4. What is the Cabinet's strong suit?
5. Is there a possibility of bipartisanship?
6. Who did he nominate for Secretary of Defense?
7. Who is likely to be the director of the CIA?
8. Over how long has Obama been presenting his selections for the Cabinet?
9. Who's interests do these nominees serve?
10. Are these Presidential appointees newbies or do they represent experience?
11. Who has the president been battling with for a long time?
12. For how long?
13. Has this been easy on him?
14. Who is Jack Lew?
15. What other position did he hold?
16. Is Obama making it easy for the Republicans?
17. what does he feel that this team can do for the administration?
18. What two nominees are Senate and Military vets?
19. What does the president want to use that these two have?
20. Lastly, what do these leaders have in Congress that is beneficial to Obama? Provide a numbered list of answers.
****
A numbered of answers: 1. Obama
2. Cabinet
3. second-term
4. defense rather than offense.
5. no
6. Sen. Chuck Hagel
7. John Brennan
8. During the last two weeks, the president rolled out his nominations on national security -- Sen. John Kerry for secretary of state, Sen. Chuck Hagel for secretary of defense, and John Brennan to direct the CIA. He then nominated his chief of staff, Jack Lew, to be secretary of the treasury.
9. of the president
10. experience
11. Republicans
12. four
13. brutal
14. secretary of the treasury.
15. chief of staff
16. no
17. protect the existing policies the administration has adopted
18. Kerry and Hagel
19. using their connections with legislators and their knowledge
20. knowledge of the ways and means of the legislative process.

Q: CHAPTER XXIII. THE OVERWHELMING ODDS

At half-past ten that same evening, Blakeney, still clad in a workman's tattered clothes, his feet bare so that he could tread the streets unheard, turned into the Rue de la Croix Blanche.

The porte-cochere of the house where Armand lodged had been left on the latch; not a soul was in sight. Peering cautiously round, he slipped into the house. On the ledge of the window, immediately on his left when he entered, a candle was left burning, and beside it there was a scrap of paper with the initials S. P. roughly traced in pencil. No one challenged him as he noiselessly glided past it, and up the narrow stairs that led to the upper floor. Here, too, on the second landing the door on the right had been left on the latch. He pushed it open and entered.

As is usual even in the meanest lodgings in Paris houses, a small antechamber gave between the front door and the main room. When Percy entered the antechamber was unlighted, but the door into the inner room beyond was ajar. Blakeney approached it with noiseless tread, and gently pushed it open.

That very instant he knew that the game was up; he heard the footsteps closing up behind him, saw Armand, deathly pale, leaning against the wall in the room in front of him, and Chauvelin and Heron standing guard over him.

The next moment the room and the antechamber were literally alive with soldiers--twenty of them to arrest one man.

1. a candle
2. Paris
3. soldiers
4. No
5. No
6. Yes
7. Armand,
8. Yes

Numbered questions:
1. what was burning?
2. what city was he in?
3. what was between the door and main room?
4. was it lit?
5. was he heavyfooted?
6. was he followed?
7. by whom?
8. Who was being guarded?