While I was out celebrating the engagement of Chris Bowers and Natasha Chart, Barack Obama announced four appointments. He selected three women and one Asian-American Nobel Prize winning scientist.
The officials said Mr. Obama would name Steven Chu, the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as his energy secretary, and Nancy Sutley, deputy mayor of Los Angeles for energy and environment, as head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Mr. Obama also appears ready to name Carol M. Browner, the E.P.A. administrator under President Bill Clinton, as the top White House official on climate and energy policy and Lisa P. Jackson, New Jersey’s commissioner of environmental protection, as the head of the E.P.A.
These are all solid progressive picks and none of them are white dudes. I think this points out the folly of thinking that we, who have received no applications and have done no vetting, can make the best selections for important administration jobs. Other than Carol Browner, I didn’t know who any of these people were until I read their biographies tonight. Are they going to be capable administrators? I don’t know. How could I? But they all appear to be solid on the issues and to have sterling qualifications. They’re not big donor flunkies or political appointments.
I know there are some obvious limitations to the idea that you can or should just trust the Obama administration, but I learned repeatedly over the course of Obama’s presidential campaign that he deserved my trust because he and his team consistently made decisions that were better than anything I had been able to dream up. I do trust him. I’m not going to lecture you about how you ought to trust him, too, but I think you should look at what he is not doing.
He is not filling his administration with donors and lobbyists and concessions to different political constituencies. His cabinet is amazingly diverse, but he hasn’t made a single pick just to pay someone off or to satisfy some interest group. His picks are all qualified, and many of them are well positioned to get things done.
I would definitely have made different picks, but I just can’t argue against the way Obama is staffing up with incredibly competent people that are willing to implement his campaign promises.
Yes, I’m happy with these picks.
< snark >
Actually, since Obama couldn’t select Krugman without causing the Dow to drop to about 2,000, he had to pick Chu to avoid dissing the Nobel winner lobby.
< / snark >
The only real stumble I have seen (which my wife is now harping on–she watches too much Fox & Dobbs), is the handling of “who knew” “who said” with Blagoyjevich. Not perfectly artful, if apparently truthful.
But, wow, choosing people for competence. It reminds me of the LOL Obama picture:
Chill the ** out! I got this.
** in honor of Rod “** him” Blagoyjevich.
How refreshing: choosing people based on their intelligence and competence. Cream usually rises to the top, looks like it will happen here too. Thank heavens.
I’m glad someone is saying this. I’ve determined to never read another blog post that begins with “Obama should never have picked so and so! We are so doomed/ignored/etc!”
Unless it’s a blog post written by John Podesta.
Chu sees the need for nuclear energy:
He may help convince the folks who fear nuclear waste more than the poisons belching into our air from smokestacks.
I fear nuclear proliferation more than waste. I have an open mind about nuclear energy, but I worry that its use makes the proliferation problem impossible to manage.
Oh, you and your elephants in the room.
You should fear the waste. Despite having this technology around for some 60 years, no nation has yet developed a waste repository system that will effectively isolate waste from the human environment. There is no safe level of exposure to ionizing radiation. By ignoring the dangers of toxic nuclear waste, we are endangering the lives of all of humanity.
Chu does not appear to be a truly progressive appointment.
safe waste coming from the smokestacks?
Nuclear waste is safer by magnitudes.
I didn’t say the smokestack waste was safe. This isn’t an either or. Both are unsafe. Nukes are not only a health risk but also a “make things go boom” risk that we shouldn’t consider trying to tame.
This is the pay-off for all the small contributions Obama gathered in, and it’s exactly the pay-off he promised. He was pushed over the top by money that came in small doses from several million people. He doesn’t owe the standard constituencies (though he does have to keep them on board). Now, that’s change we can believe in.
Well, it’s hard for me to see Gates as either competent or a likely team player, but he’s hopefully a short timer. Other than that, I think it’s a waste of time to breathlessly read the tea leaves about what hidden agenda is revealed by every cabinet pick. Time will tell, and I, too, continue to believe Obama has the intellect, attitude, and strategic competence to be the president better than we deserve. It’s ridiculous to tell us to distrust him before he’s even in office, but that’s what seems to be keeping much of the liberal blogosphere going. Thanks for providing a place to give it a rest.