On The New Cabinet
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I understand, on one hand, to have experienced people on vital issues – such as Treasury Secretary. But I’d like to see new people who aren’t Clintonistas get a crack at prime time. Also, while he’s clearly better than Rumsfeld (then again, who isn’t?), I’m not wild about keeping Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense. At the same time we must have a Democrat as Secretary of Defense, I think.
35 Responses to “On The New Cabinet”
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
I hear you about the Clintonites, but would somebody tell me why I never seem to hear Wesley Clark’s name coming up for this post? Did he do or say something truly boneheaded that I completely missed?
He’s my first choice, but I believe he isn’t eligible for it. He has to be a few more years post-service, I think, in order to be Sec. Defense.
He has to be ten years removed from active duty. Clark wouldn’t be eligible until 2010.
And a mix of old pros and new people would be best.
For Treasury and SEC, Obama should be considering the folks who were sounding the alarm on the financial crisis. If someone can get Brooksley Born out of retirement, I think she’d be great as chairwoman of whatever regulatory body is born (pun unintended) from the necessary restructuring of SEC and CFTC. Paul Krugman for Sec.Treas?
George Bush for ambassador to Iraq.
Oh, and even while they’re regrouping, conservatives are still not learning from their mistakes.
National Review contributing editor Jim Manzi, trying to put forward an education plan at Slate:
“The role of the federal government could be limited but crucial. Suppose it established a comprehensive national exam by grade level to be administered by all schools and universities that receive any federal money and required each school to publish all results, along with other detailed data about school budgets, performance, and so forth each year. Secondary, profit-driven information providers, analogous to credit-rating agencies and equity analysts, would arise to inform decision-making.”
Yeah, because the credit-rating agencies clearly have done such a fabulous job of being unbiased, objective providers of information.
For Treasury and SEC, Obama should be considering the folks who were sounding the alarm on the financial crisis.
John McCain?
Paul Krugman was also my pick for Treasury Secretary but on Talk of the Nation, Neil Conan poo-pooed a caller’s suggestion of Krugman because he’s “only” a Princeton economist and doesn’t have administrative experience. Along the lines of Powell’s endorsement of Obama, experience is helpful but good judgment is essential. We need some high functioning brains in there after the anti-intellectualism that has come to define the GOP. In that vein, I’d really like to see Samantha Power in there somewhere. I don’t care what she called Hillary Clinton. Her perspective is brilliant and she’s one smart cookie.
How about Nouriel Roubini for Secretary of the Treasury, or at least some kind of economic advisor?
SaveFarris,
You might have had a shot there if:
1) You’d said John Sununu. McCain jumped on that bandwagon late and didn’t even bother to cosponsor the legislation when Sununu brought it forward again in 2007.
2) You’d found McCain showing understanding of some of the root causes of the financial crisis, including insufficient capitalization requirements for all financial institutions (not just FMs) and lack of transparency in derivatives trading. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen McCain exhibit any knowledge of what “leverage” or “credit default swap” even mean. Anyone who thinks this crisis can be laid solely at the door of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is too stupid to be Sec.Treas.
Sorry, that should be Hagel who brought forward the 2007 Act that McCain ignored. I look forward to Hagel’s continuing to work closely with Obama; many people have suggested him as Sec.Def.
If we’re stuck with Bernanke as Fed Chairman, then evidently mere Princeton economists are good enough to help run our economy, so might as well add another one up there instead of someone from Goldman Sachs.
Along the lines of Nouriel Roubini, I’d like to see Nassim Taleb become an economic adviser for Obama, although Taleb may be too busy with his research to want that role.
To drop some Indian-American names, how about Fareed Zakaria for State and Jagdish Bhagwati in some economic capacity.
Trying to remember if I mentioned this in another thread or not. In case I haven’t: I’m hearing lots of talk about Janet Napolitano for AG. The downside for those of us in Arizona is that we’d then be stuck with Jan Brewer as Governor for the next two years, and with the advantage of incumbency going into the 2010 election…but I for one am willing to take one for the team.
I’ve heard RFK Jr. floated for EPA chief. That sounds good to me.
How about Wes Clark as Secretary of State then?
I was thinking the same thing O. It’s not like Pres. Clinton distinguished himself re- Bosnia and Kosovo. Think outside the box like JFK did w/ some of his picks (although McNamara proved to be a manipulator of numbers).
I don’t have any major issues with the Arab/Indian names getting bandied about here, but my head starts to throb as I imagine yet another round of infantile lookit-his-secret-Muslim-name-not-his-qualifications comments from the usual gang of idiots.
Journalists? Krugman is one thing — he’s a Princeton economist who won the Bates medal, who took up popular writing after he’d established himself in his field. Zakaria has a PhD, but has spent most of his career and made his name as a journalist.
I’ve heard RFK Jr. floated for EPA chief. That sounds good to me.
I’m with Timothy Noah — NO RFK JR. He’s kind of a nutter. And especially nobody for EPA chief who is convinced that vaccines cause autism. I want to bring a rigorous scientific method back to the executive branch.
Regarding Gen. Clark, I seem to recall that Congress can waive or modify the time restrictions after active duty so that he could take the position now if so desired. As I look it up, the statute was waived for Gen Marshall in 1950 despite his being a civilian only since 1945. It would be a good pick. Powell, too. It would be interesting to see a career military officer in that position rather than a civilian career politician.
Nevertheless, Democrat or Republican, I don’t think it matters much as whomever gets that, or any, position, would certainly have to agree to support and promote the Obama agenda.
As for Treasury, I would much rather see a Corzine, or someone with real world, even Wall Street, experience than an economist.
Hedley,
I like either Powell or Clark for Secretary of Defense as well. I’m sure that Obama’s cabinet members will have to broadly support the Obama agenda, but I think that an Obama administration will be more accepting and tolerant of internal dissent than the Bush administration has been.
OT: Kudos to you for being cool-headed about speaking about these issues and discussing them in a rational manner despite the fact your candidate didn’t win.
kjj83:
Krugman would never take it. Even if it was Hillary instead of Obama. I think Krugman speaks his mind too freely for a Gov’t job like that. I also think Krugman has little tolerance for bullshit.
OW:
Gates won’t be around long. He might stay two years tops. Gates can be useful for one thing. Getting out of Iraq. Besides, I think Gates wants to get back to Texas ASAP.
These guys are amazing! They already have a president-elect website up and running detailing what can be expected throughout this transition process. It’s strikingly similar to the Barack Obama website that helped make his campaign an online success.
No, no, no, muthafuckin’ NO! Have we learned nothing? Profit-driven government does not work.
Profit driven public services of any kind don’t work. They’re an oxymoron. Surely we know this by now. Did Margaret Thatcher die in vain?
That is incredible that they already have an official website up to tell us what’s going to be happening in the very near future. This would be brilliant, if they used the web as a tool for getting their message out to the people without the media filter even WHILE governing.
Remember Palin, Giuliani, and the Republicans laughing about community organizers? An old saying applies: “He who laughs last, laughs best.”
As a middle aged person, I wouls like to see George Clintonistas in the new administration.
I’d like to see Carter in the administration as well. Like or dislike his job as president, people around the world respect him.
“NO RFK JR. He’s kind of a nutter.”
Indeed.
People who don’t believe in science don’t belong anywhere in the EPA.
He would be a disaster.
Van Jones should run the EPA
Carter, like Gore, seems to have his hands full with his good work already. I see Obama keeping them both on speed dial, but putting them in his administration just seems inefficient.
To drop some Indian-American names, how about Fareed Zakaria for State and Jagdish Bhagwati in some economic capacity.
Hell yes! I’ll take those two and ten more just like ‘em please.
Joe for Chief of Janitorial Staff (CJS).
Did Margaret Thatcher die in vain?
We can hope, right?
Joe for Chief of Janitorial Staff (CJS).
There is a page on change.gov for job openings.