Picking Obama’s Cabinet
November 6, 2008 at 3:30 pm by Wayne GarciaWhy should our president-election have all the fun? So join me in helping to pick Obama’s Cabinet and key staff. Just add your nominations in comments and I will add them to our speculation list, as well as coverage of individuals who are under serious consideration.
Red = Selected
Chief of Staff: Ill. Congressman and former Clinton hatchetman Rahm Emanuel (accepted the job on Thursday)
Senior Advisor: David Axelrod
Secretary of the Treasury: FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair; Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers; NY Fed Reserve Banker Timothy Geithner, former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker (interim only in some rumors); PoHo choice Warren Buffett
Secretary of Defense: (from Politico) possibly keep Robert Gates, or choose “former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig, former Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre, Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Democratic Senators Jack Reed of Rhode Island or Jim Webb of Virginia;” retiring Sen. and Republican Chuck Hagel.
Ambassador to Great Britain: Oprah!
Secretary of State: NM Gov. Bill Richardson; Sen. John Kerry; PoHo’s choice? Anybody but Kerry.
Secretary of the Interior:
Attorney General: AZ Gov. Janet Napolitano; former Clinton Justice official Eric Holder
Secretary of Labor:
Secretary of Agriculture: PoHo’s pick: Junior Samples
Secretary of Energy: Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sibelius
Secretary of Commerce: Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sibelius
Secretary of Education: Finnish composer Jean Sibelius
Secretary of Health and Human Services: Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sibelius
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: PoHo’s pick: Tony Rezko
Secretary of Homeland Security: PoHo’s pick: Chuck D
Secretary of Transportation: Penn. Gov. Ed Rendell
Secretary of Veteran Affairs: Congressman Max Cleland
Bonus points for you all: Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee will be ________________
November 6th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Here’s mine:
Ambassador to Great Britain: Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow
Secretary of State: George Clooney.
Secretary of the Interior: Woody Allen.
Attorney General: 1-800-Ask-Gary
Secretary of Labor: Bristol Palin
Secretary of Agriculture: Willie Nelson
Secretary of Energy: Richard Simmons
Secretary of Commerce: Billy Mays
Secretary of Education: Deborah Lafave
Secretary of Health and Human Services: Keith Richards
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: John McCain
Secretary of Homeland Security: Privatize the agency and give it to ADT.
Secretary of Transportation: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Secretary of Veteran Affairs: Ron Kovic
Bonus points for you all: Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee will be: Hillary Clinton
Oh, and you left off Treasure Secretary. I’d go with Count von Count..
November 6th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
My bad. You did have Treasury (and Defense) right at the top. D’Oh!
November 6th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Hilarious Joe. Absolutely hilarious.
November 7th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Rahm Emanuel?!? WTF?
Isn’t this the same guy who’s a longtime Washington insider and partisan bulldog for the Clinton Administration?
Even the Obama-pushing media has to recognize that this doesn’t jibe with their candidate’s message of “change.”
Again and again, Obama promised a new way of doing things in Washington. And now he brings in an Clinton leftover?
If political reporters had any gumption, they’d tag Obama for this rather predictable decision, rather than cheering him on.
If Obama keeps this up, we’re going to have to start calling him O-Same Old, as in same old way of doing things.
November 7th, 2008 at 10:09 am
So funny Joe! I love it! :D
November 7th, 2008 at 10:26 am
from Politico:
“President-elect Barack Obama’s selection of Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) as his White House chief of staff is the latest demonstration of a quality Obama showed repeatedly over the course of his campaign: He’s willing to do what it takes to win.
If his goal had been to create a cordial bipartisan tone in Washington — much less a calm, profanity-free West Wing — Obama would have looked elsewhere.”
November 7th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Calm down, G.R. This isn’t the same Rahm Emanuel you once knew. This is the new Rahm Emanuel, under new direction, now working for Obama. This is not the cutthroat Rahm Emanuel of former days, before Barack, this is the Rahm Emanuel of Hope and Change. Why is this so difficult to understand?
November 8th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Treasury Secretary: The FDIC Chairwoman – SHELIA BAIR. Reasons: She’s young, she’s NOT part of the Goldman-Sachs legacy; she’s run a tight government agency ship; she’s female, she’d be a great Republican pick for Obama.
Google SHEILA BAIR and view her on WGN television (at this website – http://www.wgntv.com/landing/?FDIC-Chairman-Sheila-Bair-talks-economy-=1&blockID=3629&feedID=209)
fast forward to the 3 min. mark and you’ll say forget Buffet.
November 9th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Rockabilly:
You’ll notice that nobody in the media asked Obama this question. Guess they’re well stocked on Obama Juice – plenty left over from the election.
Wonder if/when it will run out?
November 10th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
G.R.,
We knew the hope and change stuff was only a slogan the second he picked a 30 year old bigotes white plagiarizing beltway veteran as his running mate.
November 10th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
G.R. — you must understand the job of the media. Chris Matthews puts it in perspective for you:
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2008/11/06/odd-job-matthews-says-his-role-make-obama-presidency-success