Obama cabinet appointees must have experience
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
It is a quadrennial Beltway ritual: an incoming administration’s selection of cabinet secretaries, top department officials and senior White House staff. The Obama presidency-in-waiting is cranking at full throttle on this essential assignment, and the sniping already has begun.
Mr. Obama and his advisers face a daunting task. Their successful election campaign was built on the concept of change, but some observers contend that the people they’re selecting for positions seem like too much of the same. The charge oversimplifies the situation.
This is not, we hasten to point out, merely a matter of inside-politics sport for the Washington intelligentsia. With the nation facing urgent, epic challenges from, most especially, the worst economic quagmire in a generation, having sharp minds and competent managers working on the task would be welcome change enough. The Obama administration must be positioned to act quickly, decisively and effectively to protect the nation’s economy and security.
The operational machinery and organizational skills of the Obama camp, which managed a complex and sophisticated election campaign, now are being applied to the serious business of finding and evaluating potential top officials. There is no shortage of information about who, what and why:
• Eric Holder Jr., the number-two man at the Justice Department during President Bill Clinton’s tenure and a former judge appointed to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan, is poised to become the first African-American U.S. attorney general. He is well known and highly respected in Washington power circles, but a fresh face to most of America.
• Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader from South Dakota and a supporter of the Clintons’ ill-fated health reform plan in the mid-1990s, has accepted an offer to serve as secretary of Health and Human Services.
• Janet Napolitano, the Arizona governor who previously served as attorney general of her border state and as a U.S. attorney, is set to be nominated for secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. She is no Washington insider and would bring a fresh perspective to border security measures against illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
• The most robust speculation in Washington has centered on the possible nomination of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., to be the nation’s top diplomat as head of the State Department. Ms. Clinton, of course, was Mr. Obama’s chief opponent for the Democratic nomination for president. Recent news reports have indicated that Mr. Obama will announce his selection of her — and her acceptance of the job — shortly after Thanksgiving, but it would not be surprising if the announcement came sooner.
One of the hurdles to her nomination has been questions about possible conflicts of interest of her husband, the former president, in connection with various business and philanthropic interests. Those questions appear to have been resolved, at least to the satisfaction of Mr. Obama.
There’s an element of alchemy to a president-elect’s selection of Cabinet officers, and the results often prove unpredictable. No matter how carefully he proceeds, Mr. Obama will not bowl a perfect score.
During the campaign, he promised bipartisanship, and among the Republicans his team has interviewed is Brent Scowcroft, who served Republican presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush and provided unofficial counsel to several others.
Mr. Obama should deliver on his bipartisan promise, although it would be unreasonable to expect that his appointees would include those who oppose his fundamental approach to government.
Regardless of his choices, the politicking will continue. But the best hope for our country to withstand and recover from this economic collapse is level-headed, capable national leaders primed to act. This is no time for on-the-job training or indecision. The early evidence suggests that Mr. Obama’s team is relying on the right criteria: experience, expertise, a record of public accomplishments and overall competence.
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The Post-Dispatch board can’t really be totally and utterly ignorant to the “experience” of Eric Holder, can they?
Eric Holder Defended the FALN Terrorist Pardons (Video)
“FALN terrorists never even requested clemency…”
gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/11/eric-holder-caught-on-tape-defending.html
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> This is no time for on-the-job training or indecision.
Isn’t that what Senators Clinton and McCain once said?
Most of us are hopeful that the appealing public persona and obvious managerial expertise will serve well for Mr. Obama, and our nation. But it seems not a little hypocritical for you to insist on “a record of public accomplishments” in his cabinet, while dismissing the relevance of this in the President himself.
Let’s start keeping count:
1. BO will take public finance money for the campaign
Wait, let me guess, this is another one of Kevin’s satire editorials, right?
As a reader of the hardcopy paper, it is getting harder and harder especially on Mondays to find where the comics begin and the editorial page ends.
Janet Napaolitano - not a Washington insider? Hardly! You forgot to mention that she was Anita Hill’s attorney, appointed by Clinton as US Attorney and as such was involved in the investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing which wrapped that up unusually quickly in order to not investigate that Indonesian Muslims were involved with Timothy McVeigh because Clinton didn’t want a second Islamic terrorist bombing under his watch since he refused to fight the war on terrorists.
Hopefully, one day you’ll learn to use Google, Kevin. And oh please, then you fill us in that Holder was appointed by Reagan. Give me a break!
Yet, all the important details of his background are missing.
So essentially this was just another dishonest and misinforming editorial from the Post-Dispatch. But my favorite part was admitting that Obama’s team will be relying on experience, expertise, a record of public accomplishments and overall competence. Wow - all the things that Obama lacks, but since the PD refused to vet PE Obama, it didn’t seem at the time to feel these qualifications were necessary for a president. Obama may yet be the greatest puppet president America has ever had.
I guess this editorial is a premise as to what we can expect for the next 8 from this editorial page - excuses, excuses, excuses. But did we mention that Obama is the first black president?
Too bad you all couldn’t have just endorsed Mitt Romney who actually had all those qualifications himself.
And what about Bill Richardson for Commerce Secy? Just another politician that has done nothing else in life but be a politician on the government dole. The man has never run a business or created a private sector job and you are telling me he is qualified for a commerce job? Give me a big fat break. Maybe he’ll be able to find jobs for all the illegals here.
These are nothing but a lot of pay back patronage jobs. Where is Claire McCaskill’s name for putting her career on the line?
And if you want to have a little fun, Google Penny Pritzer, Obama’s other choice for Commerce Secy. You’ll find out why she isn’t interested in being “checked out.” I will say Obama has a nack for keeping the best of company.
I would’ve thought Richardson for Sect. of State a better choice.
“Obama appointees must have experience”????? Are you serious? That is one big confession that someone needs to cover for the new guy, the most inexperienced, unqualified, unaccomplished president-elect ever. Yes, these appointees are experienced in pushing liberal, socialistic ideas. Looks to me like Clinton III.
> Looks to me like Clinton III.
Nope, more like McGovern I. Clinton had a better fiscal record than Bush. If Obama is able to match Clinton’s record, I’ll be pleasantly surprised, even if we do end up with the likes of Janet Reno and Joycelyn Elders.
It appears most certainly that none of the ABOVE understands or recognizes what good leadership is. Not surprising when one notice those all too familiar cementers. Right Nick and BobZ?
It will be a miracle if any of these bailouts work because NO ONE knows the extent of the damage with all these repackaged mortgages. We have the perfect storm on all fronts and the economy is going to totally collapse, but so will our government if it continues with the false hope that things will miraculously turn around with time and the pumping money after bad money and incompetent corporate leaders who are desperate and still blind with greed.
But, our government now as so many of us have been guilty of, when we become financially desperate and needing, you can’t see all that clearly and the hope and belief that you have is really irrational hope and belief.
I trust that Obama will not forget to lead the people (citizens) to prepare and brace for what’s ahead financially and ways to keep families off the street and from our shelters. Families are going to have to open up their homes and hearts to other family members who are in need and others who are not even family without complaining etc., pulling all their resources together. The people of this country have much testing that will be coming their way.
There will be no customers no matter how available money becomes because people will not be spending their money but trying to hold on to it and praying that it is safe in their bank.
The balls are only juggling in the air right now but when they fall it will be hard and people need to be prepared and Obama is the perfect level headed leader to lead this country in such dire times ahead.
D. Walker:
So you’re saying Barack (h.) Obama is NOT the messiah that you portrayed him as for the past many months?
Ooooh… there’s going to be an awful lot of disappointment out there.
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