I was fascinated by the thought that whether Sen. Clinton realizes it or not the race is over and Obama now needs to look toward the ge. Now, I realize that his cabinet will not need to be set up right now, but I was curious about who might fit into the various slots. Looking at Bush’s cabinet is pretty icky. He and Reagan picked people that really really didn’t want to do their jobs. Some of Reagan’s really wanted to dismantle their jobs and the same is true for Bush – i.e. justice no longer exists in Bush land.
But as I was doing this exercise it dawned on me that I have no way of seeing who might fit into various spots. But I give you the list anyway and maybe you all have some ideas.
over
Robert Reich was very good at finance and might be willing to take up the cudgel again as Sec Treas.
I think we need a very good person, a thinking person as Sec Def. Somebody that doesn’t eschew diplomacy. Somebody that doesn’t get sucked into the military mindset either, no offense to the military folks. By that I mean – yes we need a good standing army and nave and air force et al and yes we need good hardware and software, but there should be constraints about what we ask of our military. And there should be some training for peacetime things like disaster planning and relief. So we need somebody with a little rebelliousness and a lot of foresightedness there. And I cannot think of anybody at the moment that would be such a paragon. Colin Powell comes to mind, but he blew it long ago with his speech to the UN and besides he hasn’t enough rebelliousness.
Sec of State: Governor Richardson might be a possibility. He has done some interesting things in negotiations with other countries. Have any of the Jimmy Carter offspring followed in their dad’s footsteps? They might be worth checking out as well.
National Security Counsel: We know well what happens when this is not properly staffed. Maybe Richard Clark? Wesley Clark? This might be an easier one to fill if you look at old spooks and generals.
Homeland Security – God knows this one cabinet has all the earmarks of a hodgepodge in search of an explosion to start it up all over again. There has to be an element of understanding about effects this thing has on real people, so somebody with some people skills is definitely needed even though it has some of the elements of intelligence (Goddess knows we TRULY need some people understanding here – like real person to person intell!) So a real progressive here, perhaps? Or maybe somebody who is a real thinker like Sen. Whitehouse?
I think for AG we need somebody like Pat Fitzgerald or perhaps one of the JAGs who stood up and said that GITMO was a violation of our rule of laws. Pat is a repub and would give that sense of crossing over to the other party at the same time as punching GW and Rove in the mouth!
Commerce Secretary – this job is gonna be hard after the Bush years. We have allowed our system to become completely drained. Maybe if we combine green – complete with agressive R&D – health – complete with revamped FDA, CDC and a great Surgeon General – information technology with privacy safeguards etc. – a new revitalized agriculture industry – complete with organic and urban farming.
EPA Secretary – I think we need new blood here, big time. I think we need somebody who doesn’t compromise easily. Not a Governor again, not a politician, but a real green mean machine.
Dept. of Veteran’s affairs – we really really need somebody with both guts and compassion in this position. Somebody like Bono?
Dept of Ag, Energy, Transportation and also Interior – we need some green thinkers here. We need to get away from subsidizing Con-Agra and instead look at agriculture in the sense of being our vation the salvation and the world’s salvation once again and not just for energy. We need true indepence from oil and solar and wind on every block.
Dept of Education – we need very innovative thinking here. Something that might cause us to really get excited about education once again. I think a new emphasis on saving the world from global warming might cause us to gear up a bunch of real possibilities in this arena. Maybe a combination of Carl Sagan and Sesame street?
Dept of Housing – now here is a great fit for somebody who can understand some of the problems we are now experiencing because of the mortgage crisis. Although they may not have had much to do in this area previously, there surely should be some new legislation to help folks out if the mortgage company did not really let them know what was going to happen.
Governor Sebelius from Kansas would be good for perhaps commerce or education.
There are some commissions that need starting up:
- closing GITMO
- restoring scientific integrity
- leaving Iraq
- energy independence
- restoration of bill of rights, habeas and the constitution.
- making trade fair, not just for corporations but for workers and environment.
- restoring EPA
- reregulation – where has the lack of regulation done us harm? Energy and financial markets come to mind.
