Obama's Cabinet Thus Far

Well folks, it's been a while since my last entry as I have been very busy recently and I apologize. We sure have missed a whole lot since my last posting.

There was the announcement that Joe Lieberman would keep his position as head of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, without so much as a slap on the wrist. Then there was all of the drama over picking Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, Bill included. And then of course there was Sarah Palin giving a TV interview after pardoning a turkey while a turkey was being slain behind her.

But in all seriousness, there has been some major news regarding President-elect Obama's cabinet. Most of the major cabinet positions in his administration have already been filled, only three weeks after Election Day. The current list is as follows:

Secretary of Treasury: Timothy Geithner
Geithner is the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and there seems to be a lot of confidence in his ability to handle the economic crisis. On the day of his announcement as Treasury Secretary, the stock markets shot up over 500 points. He is widely respected in his field and is seen by most economic experts as a reassuring pick. He is a self-described moderate, and he is also said to have a good working relationship with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, which would ease the transition and ensure stability in Washington. He will be joined by former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and Christina Romer as members of Obama's economic team.

Secretary of Defense: Robert Gates
Robert Gates will reportedly stay on as Defense Secretary under the Obama administration for as long as a year. He clearly has support from members of both parties with a unanimous confirmation in the Senate Armed Services Committee and a 95-2 vote in the Senate when he was confirmed as Defense Secretary under George Bush in 2006. As of now, he is the sole Republican reported to be in Obama's cabinet. Several media outlets are now reporting that he has accepted the offer.

Secretary of State: Hillary Clinton
Talk about a team of rivals. Obama reached out to Hillary after their long and bitter primary battle to take the top foreign policy position in the nation--and boy was there drama. She took a while to accept the position, as she was reportedly torn about giving up her seat in the Senate. Hillary is largely thought to be to the right of Obama on matters of national security and foreign policy--as shown by her initial support for the Iraq War. She often called Obama naive on matters of foreign policy during the primaries, especially meeting with hostile leaders of foreign nations without preconditions. However, she will now be tied to the Obama administration and will serve at his disposal. Members of the international community know and respect her and know that she means business, which will help when other nations test Obama early in his presidency.

Attorney General: Eric Holder
Holder was a deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno during the Clinton administration. During the final days of that administration, Holder was involved with President Clinton's last-minute pardon of fugitive and Democratic contributor Marc Rich. His participation in the Rich's pardon came into question, and a controversy formed over offering his opinion to Clinton about the pardon, as Clinton mistook it for the opinion of the Justice Department. Holder was one of the three members of Obama's vice-presidential selection committee and was a senior legal advisor to Obama during the campaign. He will be the first African American Attorney General.

Secretary of Health & Human Services: Tom Daschle
The former Senate Democratic Majority and Minority Leader from South Dakota was an early supporter of Obama, and served as one of his campaign’s national co-chairs. He was largely thought to be a top contender for the position of chief of staff, but Obama picked Rahm Emanuel instead, so Daschle got this position instead. In his career in Congress, Health Care has always been one of the most important issues to him, and he will be aggressive on that issue.

Secretary of Homeland Security: Janet Napolitano
Napolitano is the current (popular) governor from Arizona, and is a rising star in the party. She was an early supporter of Obama and played a large role in his campaign in the primaries and the general election. Her qualifications for this position, however, seem slim.

Secretary of Commerce: Bill Richardson
Richardson was the former Ambassador to the United Nations and Secretary of Energy in the Clinton administration, and is the current governor of New Mexico. He endorsed Obama in the middle of the primaries, despite his long association with the Clintons. Richardson, along with John Kerry, was thought to be a contender for Secretary of State, but since that position was taken, Richardson will become Commerce Secretary in the Obama administration. Although his expertise is in other areas, he seems to be qualified for the position.

The positions of Secretary of Energy, Education, Labor, Interior, Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, and Veteran's Affairs have yet to be announced.

High Hopes and Expectations for Obama

A new Gallup poll shows that Americans hold the incoming Obama administration with high regard one week after he was elected president.

The poll found that 68% of adults have a favorable opinion of president-elect Barack Obama and 65% think the country will be better off four years from now. This result means that people have faith in Obama and are pulling for him, but they are expecting a lot from him at the same time. But it is clear that Obama will be entering the White House on a wave of good will.

About 50% of Americans thought that the country would be better off in four years when George Bush and Bill Clinton were first elected. But then again, the country was not nearly in as bad shape as it is today, and many American now believe that we have nowhere to go but up.

Here's a fun fact for you: Obama's approval rating is the exact same as Bush's disapproval rating--also sitting pretty at 68%. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that its the same 68% that approve of Obama and disapprove of Bush.

The two really interesting things to watch in the first few months of the administration will be to see (1) if Obama's popularity wanes, and by how much and (2) how Republicans--especially in the Senate--will deal with Obama's popularity.

Will they try to filibuster his initial legislation and oppose him right from the start and risk the consequences of not letting a popular president carry out his policies? Or will they give him a chance and try to bridge the partisan gap? My money's on the first one.

President-Elect Obama Holds First Press Conference

Barack Obama held his first press conference as president-elect yesterday in Chicago. He did not announce any cabinet appointments, but did give some strong clues who they'd be by surrounding himself with fifteen of his economic advisers, a heavyweight cast of former Treasury secretaries, business leaders and financial experts as well as Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.

He immediately reminded everyone that we only have one president at a time, and that until January 20, that president is George Bush. After that, he underscored the "sobering news" that the nation lost 240,000 jobs in October and then he went into his immediate economic agenda.

Obama said that he wanted to extend unemployment benefits and put an emphasis on job growth. He also says that he supports Congress's plan to give billions to help the ailing auto industry, which has reported record losses this past quarter.

When he was asked how he would spend his first days as president, Obama responded by saying that passing a stimulus package would be the first thing he gets done, if one does not get passed by the lame duck Congress before his inauguration.

Regarding cabinet appointments, the president-elect said that he would "move with all deliberate haste, emphasis on deliberate as well as haste."

Obama also reminded reporters that he would be meeting with President Bush on Monday. He said that he did not expect any problems and thought it would be a substantive discussion and they would meet with "a spirit of bipartisanship."

When asked about the all-important issue of the Obama family's new dog, he responded, "Malia is allergic, so it has to be hypoallergenic," he said. "On the other hand, our preference would be to get a shelter dog, but obviously a lot of shelter dogs are mutts, like me. So whether we're going to be able to balance those two things, I think, is a pressing issue on the Obama household."

Asked whether he had spoken to past presidents, Obama said he had talked to "all of them that are living." As an aside, he joked: "I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing any seances." He is referring to how, as first lady, Nancy Reagan spoke to an astrologer in setting former President Reagan's schedule. He later called and apologized to Mrs. Reagan, but it was pretty funny.

Overall, he did very well. He was charming, fairly substantive, and more at ease than he was on the campaign trail. His humor came through well and he was very assertive. However, he did not offer any real specific proposals, stayed fairly vague, and just repeated many of his campaign promises.

But he seems to have a rapport with the press, which is a real change from the current president, who rarely holds news conferences and has little regard for the press corps.

Reid Gives Lieberman Ultimatum

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman met behind closed doors yesterday to discuss Lieberman's future role with the Democratic Party.

Lieberman, a member of the Democratic caucus, openly supported John McCain for president and spoke at the Republican National Convention, and is widely seen as a traitor of sorts within his own party.

Staffers of both men are saying that at the meeting, Reid offered that Lieberman could keep his place in the Democratic caucus if and only if he gave up his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

A Lieberman staffer said: "Senator Lieberman's preference is to stay in the caucus, but he's going to keep all his options open. [Senate Minority Leader] McConnell has reached out to him and at this stage his position is he wants to remain in the caucus but losing the chairmanship is unacceptable."

But here's the thing, the Democrats no longer need his vote. Back when they had a 51-49 majority (including Lieberman), they needed his vote to prevent Dick Cheney from being the decider. But now that the Democrats have 56-59 seats in the Senate even without him, Lieberman does not have any leverage over Reid and the Senate Democrats. They stand to lose nothing if he switches sides.

What Lieberman did during this campaign was inexcusable for someone of his stature, and I think Reid and the Democrats should punish him for his actions.

Although McConnell and the Senate Republicans need all the votes they can get at this point, Lieberman would not be welcomed with open arms to the Republican caucus, should he decide to join it because he still disagrees with them on most non-foreign policy related issues.

So despite which caucus he decides to go with in the end, it really shouldn't make that much of a difference. He is likely to continue to vote on an issue-to-issue basis, and it appears that he's lost much of his former power and sway in the Senate.

Emanuel is the Hot to Obama's Cool

Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel has officially accepted the position of White House chief of staff for president-elect Barack Obama. Emanuel's deputies will include Pete Rouse, who is currently Obama's Senate chief of staff.

Obama said that "No one I know is better at getting things done than Rahm Emanuel."

The selection of Emanuel as chief of staff signals that Obama is eager to start working with the Democratic-controlled Congress and plans to launch his legislative agenda as soon as possible. This choice also shows that Obama wants to play hardball. As Ben Smith and John Harris write this morning:

If his [Obama's] goal had been to create a cordial bipartisan tone in Washington — much less a calm, profanity-free West Wing — Obama would have looked elsewhere.

The selection of Emanuel, one of the Democratic Party's most effective operatives over the past two decades, was a powerful signal of Obama's determination to be effective under the existing rules of the Washington game.

“He's from the Lombardi wing of the party — he's a guy who wants to win at any cost and will do whatever it takes,” said John Lapp, a former top Emanuel aide at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Many top Republicans are already attacking the selection and not even giving the Obama administration a chance, even before he takes office. House Minority Leader John A. Boehner said in a statement: “This is an ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil and govern from the center.”

Others are calling him a "partisan insider" and are saying that Obama's first decision as president-elect undermines his promise to heal divides and unite the country by selecting the "hyperpartisan" Emanuel.

But Sen. Lindsey Graham, of all people, praised the selection of Emanuel yesterday, saying "He can be a tough partisan but also understands the need to work together. He is well-suited for the position of White House Chief of Staff."

Emanuel is known for being profane and even Machiavellian at times, but he always gets his desired result. The contrasts between Emanuel and Obama are vast, and should complement each other in a "good cop, bad cop" kind of way.

He will certainly play a huge role in Obama's transition to the White House and with his vast legislative agenda, and with this selection, it is clear that Obama is playing to win.

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

Robert Gibbs, a top aide to Barack Obama throughout his presidential campaign, will be named White House Press Secretary, according to Politico.

Gibbs (right) was the communications director for Obama's Senate office and was a top strategist in his campaign. Gibbs has worked with Obama since 2004, and was press secretary of John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign.

Politico also reports that the job has not formally offered or accepted yet, but the move has been confirmed by a top Democratic official.

They also report that "The announcement is likely to be viewed favorably by reporters because Gibbs has unquestioned authority, access and institutional memory."

Obama Asks Emanuel to be Chief of Staff

After nearly 21 months of campaigning, president-elect Barack Obama has just 11 weeks to transition to the White House. In a brief statement earlier today, President Bush said he would work with Obama to ensure a smooth transition to the presidency.

And Obama took the first step in that transition process by asking Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois to serve as his White House chief of staff. Sources are now telling several news organizations that Emanuel has accepted the offer.

Emanuel is currently the Democratic Caucus chairman, the fourth-highest-ranking member of the House Democratic leadership. He has also developed a reputation for hard-nosed political tactics, dating back to when he served as a senior adviser to President Bill Clinton for six years. He was a critical figure behind the passage of NAFTA, and clearly knows his way around the West Wing as well as Capitol Hill.

He was often called "Rahmbo" and has many powerful enemies from his days in the Clinton White House. He once mailed a rotting fish to one of his political opponents. Democratic strategist Paul Begala described Emanuel's aggressive style as a "cross between a hemorrhoid and a toothache." The bottom line is, if anyone messes with Obama, they're going to have to deal with Rahmbo.

However, friends to both Obama and Emanuel say that they like each other, and that Obama respects Emanuel's knowledge of Washington--namely the legislative process--and his reputation for getting things done.

Some have warned that Emanuel’s take-no-prisoners style could damage Obama's image of unity and moving on from the old-style politics. But it is clear that the president-elect wants to immediately start pushing his legislative agenda through the Democratic-controlled Congress--and Emanuel, with his knowledge of the Hill, can certainly make that happen.

Despite the public's perception of Emanuel, he is a centrist, and he will be a hard-working and very loyal chief of staff to president-elect Obama, especially during this crucial transition period. Emanuel will be blunt and ruthless at times, but he will get things done. I think that Obama made a great first decision and this offers some foreshadowing about whom he will choose to surround himself with in terms of his staff and cabinet.