If you look at Bill Clinton’s cabinet you’ll notice that it is a little light on members of Congress. Dan Glickman, a representative from Kansas, became the Secretary of Agriculture after he was defeated in the 1994 midterms. Republican Senator William Cohen of Maine served as Secretary of Defense. Rep. Bill Richardson (now Governor) of New Mexico held a couple of cabinet posts. And Norm Mineta, Les Aspin, and Lloyd Bentsen were all former members of Congress that served briefly for Clinton. But Clinton did not look for well-known names. If he had any particular bias, it was in favor of diversity. He was criticized early on for forming an ‘Affirmative-Action cabinet’ but one of the signature aspects of the Clinton administration (especially in retrospect) was the efficiency of the government. If Barack Obama follows to form, we won’t be familiar with most of his cabinet when they are announced.
But there is also good reason to believe that Obama will pursue a different strategy. It’s not unlikely that he will seek to create a unifying cabinet that includes a few Republicans. On foreign and military affairs, and on the economy, he may seek to reassure the country by picking people that are well-known and well-respected on both sides of the aisle. Most mock lists I see for Obama’s cabinet are of this All-Star variety. The Republicans most likely to be a part of Obama’s cabinet are those that have either tepidly or explictly endorsed his candidacy. Senator Chuck Hagel and former Senator Lincoln Chafee are likely to get tapped, as is Rep. Jim Leach of Iowa. Indiana Senator Richard Lugar would be a major coup, if he agreed to serve.
State: Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), Fmr. Sen. Bill Bradley (D-NJ), Attorney Greg Craig
Defense: Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig, Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), Fmr. Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA)
Attorney General: Fmr. Deputy General Eric Holder, Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL), U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
Homeland Security: Fmr. Rep. Tim Roemer (D-IN), Fmr. Sen. Gary Hart (D-CO)
National Security Adviser: Ret. Gen. Anthony Zinni, Attorney Greg Craig, Samantha Power, Susan Rice, Sarah Sewell
Agriculture: Former Gov. Tom Vilsack (D-IA), Gov. Chet Culver (D-IA), Fmr. Rep Jim Leach (R-IA), Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA)
Commerce: Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS), NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL)
Education: Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS), Fmr. Sen. Lincoln Chafee (D-RI), Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
Energy: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA), Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Rep. Tom Allen (D-ME), if he loses his senate campaign
Health & Human Services: Fmr Gov. Howard Dean (D-VT), David Cutler, Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA)
Housing and Urban Development: Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), Fmr. Sen. Carol Mosley-Braun (D-IL), Rep. Nydia M. Velazquez (D-NY)
Interior: Gov. Janet Napolitano (D-AZ), Fmr. Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), Sierra Club President Lisa Renstrom, Fmr. Rep. Jim Leach (R-IA)
Labor: SEIU President Andy Stern, Fmr. Rep. David Bonior (D-MI), Dan Tarullo, Fmr. Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-MO), Cassandra Butts
Transportation: Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN), Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV)
Treasury: Larry Summers, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Austan Goolsbee, Stuart Eizenstat, Chicago Mayor William Daley
Veterans Affairs: Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA), Fmr. Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA), Senate candidates Jim Martin (D-GA) and Bob Tuke (D-TN).
UN Secretary: Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM) who held this position in the Clinton administration, Fmr. Sen. Bill Bradley (D-NJ), Fmr. Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI),
Chief of Staff: Fmr Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD), Attorney Greg Craig, Campaign Manager David Plouffe
You can add or critique names off this list. My best guess is that there will be more civilians and less elected officials in the actual cabinet.
Let me just pick one from every group and see what it looks like.
Now, what would you think of that cabinet?
*while the pundits are hand wringing that Obama appears to be fading, he’s raking in $$$
July $51 million – 65,000 new donors
compared to
McCain’s $27 million
in that mock cabinet: too many from CONgress. I’d nix Summers….he was a disaster first time around and what’s ahead is too hot to handle. ditto Daley…way out of his league, Nix Arnie …he’ll take over the whole thing.
these are not so much recommendations (although I’ve added some food for thought) as predictions.
Steve Clemons has this post:
Obama to General Wesley Clark: Your Services Not Needed
notice that Clark is nowhere on my list.
I don’t think Obama will pick more than one sitting Democratic senator, and only ones from states with Democratic governors. So count out Dodd, Bayh and McCaskill (unless the Dem wins the gov seat there). I also don’t think popular governors like Schweitzer or Sebelius should leave their posts for a low-level cabinet spot.
If I was Obama, I wouldn’t pick any sitting Democratic senators, except for maybe some old ones who would like to be replaced sooner rather than later with good progressives. Biden, if he isn’t the VP, would be a good choice at State. But there are thousands of talented Dems outside of the Senate who would do just fine.
We’re heavily favored to win the Missouri governor’s race. Indiana is a longer shot. As for Connecticut, I doubt Dodd would be cut out of consideration because he is not running for reelection anyway.
Is this a Sign of the Times or this is one very BRAVE SOUL: or translated – Countdown to Crawford.
No kidding
Vice Cheney had to show photo ID before he was allowed to…
State: Richardson – None of the others have actual diplomatic experience; Richardson does, and he performed well in dealing with crises and delicate negotiations. And Obama would be confessing that Democrats can’t do foreign policy if he appointed Republicans.
Defense: Gore – In the Senate, he was as well versed about Armed Services as Sam Nunn, the military is one of the major users of fossil fuels, and the Defense Department is in great need of re-engineering, another task at which Gore excelled. Again, putting a Republican here would concede the national security issue.
Homeland Security – James Lee Witt, a rerun with a larger responsibility. My preference is former Governor Louise Blanco of Louisiana, who in the aftermath of Katrina actually did do rescue with every boat, vehicle, or aircraft that the State of Louisiana had available–all the while having to fight the Department of Homeland Security and a White House eager to score political points for Bobby Jindal.
National Security Adviser – Zinni. What is going to be interesting is who gets appointed to help him. i.d. Will Richard Clarke be back?
Attorney General – Holder, or some other person familiar with how the organization runs; look for Fitzgerald being in charge of the US Attorneys to clean up that operation. Davis and McCaskill are needed in Congress.
Agriculture – Gov. Kathleen Sibelius – I would save Vilsack for the Commodities Futures Trading Commission.
Commerce – Rep. Nydia M. Velazquez – although a great way to get Jello Jay out of the Intelligence Committee, I’m not sure that he could get done what’s needed. Sitting Congressfolk will be needed to move stuff through Congress. Bloomberg is non-starter unless he becomes a Republican for Obama.
Education – An outsider – I think this will be someone with state education department experience or a well qualified local superintendent of education.
Energy – A tough one; it depends on whether he wants someone thoroughly schooled in energy issues and visionary and put folks with strong administrative capabilities at the second level of political appointees, or have a strong administrator in charge and put the visionary on the White House staff. My preference – Amory Lovins with a strong team of managers. Also note that the Energy Department handles nuclear fuels for the Defense Department (traditionally the largest part of its budget).
Health and Human Services – Howard Dean – period.
Housing and Urban Development – Carol Moseley-Braun; this is making some big assumptions about how well these two Chicagoans can work together.
Interior – Napolitano; Renstrom as head of National Park Service; key appointment will be head of Bureau of Land Management – Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana?
Labor – Stern – key subordinates will those heading the Wage and Hour division, and the person dealing with the UN’s International Labor Organizatio.
Transportation – Like Defense, this is another key appointment for an energy independence agenda; someone who will think rail, transit, restoring US shipping and shipbuilding industries, ending gasoline engines in transportation-truck and auto; someone with zero ties to the oil and auto industries.
Treasury – Eizenstat – long-term Democratic adviser.
Veterans Affairs – Tammy Duckworth – Cleland’s done it before and Martin is going to pull an upset in GA 🙂
Ambassador to UN – Jim Leach
Chief of Staff – Daschle (to work Congress); Deputy-Plouffe to work executive departments
I suspect that there will be some surprise “civilian” choices.
Education: a 5 member cabinet with people who have contributed to the design and implementation of successful programs for each stage of development, i.e., birth to early childhood, early childhood, elementary, secondary, and post high school. “Success” would be defined by what reflects the Obama administrations beliefs.
Superintendents are often much too focused on the political and less on the educational.
Also, no one connected in anyway to corporations whose business is testing or educational materials and “programs.”
Many interesting choices there. I doubt that Gore would be interested in Defense at this point in his life (even though he has expertise in the area) — Energy, Transportation or Global Warming Czar might tempt him back into an administration. I don’t want to raid any Democratic Senators unless we’re fairly certain they’d be replaced by Democrats (preferably Democrats who are as liberal or more so).
Defense is the global warming czar just because of the quantities of fossil fuels that tanks, trucks, airplanes, almost anything that moves on its own burns.
The “Strategic Petroleum Reserve” was pitched as a way to supply the military with oil (hence “strategic”)and make the US military less dependent on foreign oil. It hasn’t worked out that way as the Bush presidencies both have bought at high prices and sold at low prices, making it a cash cow for the oil companies.
I agree with you about anyone in Congress and any sitting governor who would be replaced by a Republican (Arizona and Napolitano, who has two years left, is a good example). They should not be chosen except for a good reason.
I would love to see Fitzpatric with some sort of position in Justice. Now that there is no chance of JE to be AG, I actually would not mind seeing that go to Patrick. He would have credibility.
All I can say, as a resident of California, is that Schwarzenegger has been a failure on every count and on each and every thing he said he could do.
His only claim to renown is that he said he was “for”
saving the planet, “for” medical care, “for” prison reform, and “for” stem cell research.
His proposals were like Bush — all WORSE than what we have now — more money for corporations, lots of steps backward for real solutions.
If Obama choses him to run any department, I will have lost any kernel of faith in the Obama administration.
He could make a fine ambassador somewhere I’m sure.
As an administrator, he installed the old, tired long- ago defeated Republican bureaucracy to run the state, and he let Karl Rove have a hand in some appointments– like the last Sec’y of State (before Bowen) to prevent any electoral reform from happening.
From the moment he took office, he started accepting “contributions” from corporations and the wealthy (although before he was elected he had boasted he was too rich to need them).
He let every opportunity to cross over and make a difference go by.
He let the prison guard unions kill any reform of the prisons …
Don’t get me started. We all know he’s worse than useless.