The Washington Post has produced an interesting list of candidates to replace Janet Napolitano as Secretary of Homeland Security, but I can unreservedly veto both Jane Harman and Joe Lieberman. No fucking way, on either of them.
I’d leave Craig Fugate in charge of FEMA since everyone seems to agree that he’s really good at his job. I would pass over the police commissioners who are under consideration, although I place Bratton over Kelly. Other than that, the list looks pretty strong. I’m glad we have a lot of options.
Kampala Harris is an interesting choice, but I feel like she has a bright future as a politician – would rather see her go for governor or Senate next.
Well, when is her next opportunity to run for governor or senate? Seems like she has time to serve in the administration.
I would promote Craig Fugate precisely because he’s really good at his job, and that job is more the core competencies of DHS than the overemphasis on counter-terrorism.
That overemphasis immediately disqualifies Lieberman, Harmon, Kelly, Bratton, Beers, Pistole, Heyman, Danzig, Holl, and Durkan. Some of these folks are big parts of the civil liberties problems.
Bruno is disqualified for incompetence. His mismanagement got upstaged by Occupy Sandy, with whom he reluctantly was forced to work because of the size of the disaster.
Pistole can also be faulted for incompetence in not shutting down the TSA boondoggle and not getting it to run better. Heyman’s failure to get corporate assurance of the security of their infrastructures, especially voluntary screening of port shipments is a problem. We screen all air passengers but only containers with probable cause. That is a bit bassackwards relative to Constitutional protections.
Kamala Harris is solid, but my sense is that California needs her continuity in order to get some stuff done. Leaving in the middle of the prison crisis might not be the best move.
Myorkas as a symbolic choice might be the most likely one, given the state of the immigration laws and the current bill.
Kamala Harris. I have been seeing that name more and more lately and I have no idea who she is. But I must do a lot of skimming or speed reading because I always misread it first and think “Katherine Harris!” … and I flash back to Florida and I am immediately angry and outraged.
I calm down after I re-read the name, but it’s amazing how quick my body is to react to that name, and it takes me awhile before my breathing and pulse get back to normal.
I’ve been following her for some time now. She’s on my shortlist of people who could and should run for President one day–assuming no earth shattering messes.
Sadly, I think the Republicans will put up a vicious hissy-fit over anyone but Lieberdouche.
Well, Holy Joe and Obama are pals, so it wouldn’t surprise me. Since when does the President listen to progressives anyway?
Is that snark? Lieberman was a huge thorn in Obama’s side. He campaigned for John McCain for pete’s sake. He was one of the major obstructors of the ACA in the Senate. He basically never got over Obama endorsing Ned Lamont after he beat JL in the primary. They are not “pals.”
He enthusiastically defended holy Joe, and endorsed him in the democratic primary, referring to him as his “mentor” and friend. It wasn’t until after Lamont won that he received the endorsement from Obama, a move of political expediency for an anti-war candidate about to mount a national campaign.
He also campaigned to avoid Joe getting stripped of his committee assignments after the election of 2008.
Chance that Obama appoints Joe Lieberman to head DHS: 0%
You are living in the distant past.
I didn’t say it would happen, only that it wouldn’t surprise me if it did.
Lieberman? Is that a Joke? Why not just go straight to the source and hire Netanyahu?
I’d place just about everyone over Stop and Frisk Kelly. Even Lieberman.
Susan Collins is definitely not the best person for the job but it may be the only opportunity we have to replace her in the Senate.
This is one case where I’d love to see the Senate filibuster every candidate and keep the office unoccupied. Maybe that would wake the beltway up enough to abolish the DHS altogether. The Frankenstein monster started ripping apart at its clumsy seams from the very beginning. This is a case where smaller government can be achieved with no sacrifice of anything worth a damn.
Keeping in mind that the Secret Service is now under DHS, I would expect loyalty to be an important criterium. Rules out Holy Joe.
I nominate Lieberman for Trusty at Gitmo.
Jane Holl Lute, who until recently served as Napolitano’s No. 2 and left the department to work on international Internet issues;
Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican senator from Maine, a former ranking member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs;
Mike Leiter, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center who is now a senior official at Palantir Technologies [I think a No-Go – Oui];
Clark Ervin, the department’s former inspector general who runs the homeland-security project at the Aspen Institute. He is a partner at the law firm Patton Boggs, LLP and serves on the Board of Directors of Clear Path Technologies, Inc., an explosives detection company [I also think a No-Go – Oui].
Source National Journal