Transition: Here come the Clintonistas

Posted: Thursday, November 13, 2008 9:21 AM by Carrie Dann

Obama holds private meetings today in Chicago, while Joe and Jill Biden meet with the Cheneys in DC at the vice presidential residence in DC.

“President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday named two former Clinton White House officials, Joshua Gotbaum and Michael J. Warren, to oversee the new administration’s takeover of the Treasury Department as it manages the still-evolving $700 billion financial rescue plan,” the New York Times writes. More: “The Obama transition team named two more former Clinton administration officials, Thomas E. Donilon and Wendy R. Sherman, to head the transition for the State Department.”

The Wall Street Journal: "The group is filled with second-tier veterans of the Clinton administration and workers in the technology and financial sectors. It includes four former lobbyists, three top campaign fund-raisers and two former employees of troubled mortgage giant Fannie Mae, with some overlap among them. Four people in the group have ties to the consultant McKinsey & Co. and two have experience leading high-tech start-ups."

So potential Obama Administration applicants need to know ANY electronic communication they've ever sent. Oy.

The Washington Post looks at the hurdles facing the new admin at Justice. "Topping the list of concerns is the Office of Legal Counsel, a once-obscure operation whose advice guides some of the government's most sensitive and controversial policies, from domestic wiretapping to the appropriateness of handing out public funding to religious groups. Many of the OLC's memos on interrogation and warrantless eavesdropping remain secret, even though lawmakers have clamored for their release. Democrats say they expect to find fresh surprises when they open the legal vault.”

“Officials at interest groups, including the Center for American Progress and People for the American Way, have called on President-elect Barack Obama to devote significant attention to the legal office. Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, urged this week that the new administration withdraw all of the OLC opinions in the interrogation and detention area and replace them with "a single opinion that should be made public."

"Mary Nichols, the savvy negotiator who is leading California's complex effort to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, is reportedly a candidate to head President-elect Barack Obama's Environmental Protection Agency."

OUR OBAMA CABINET SPECULATION LIST:
Chief of staff: Emanuel NAMED / Deputy: Pete Rouse
Press Secretary: Gibbs
Biden chief of staff: Ron Klain

POTENTIAL CABINET MEMBERS:
Agriculture: Tom Vilsack, Tom Buis (Natl Farmers Union), Charlie Stenholm, Jim Leach
Commerce: Penny Pritzker, Kathleen Sebelius, Jason Furman, John Thompson (Symantec)
Defense: Robert Gates, Richard Danzig, Chuck Hagel, Sam Nunn, Jack Reed, Colin Powell, John Hamre
Education: Joel Klein (NYC), Linda Darling-Hammond, Kathleen Sebelius, Colin Powell, Jim Hunt, Arne Duncan, Inez Tenenbaum.
Energy: Kathleen Sebelius, Philip Sharp, Ed Rendell, Arnold Schwarzenegger (has said no), Al Gore, Jeff Bingaman, Jennifer Granholm
HHS: Tom Daschle, Howard Dean, Eric Whitaker
Homeland Security (priority): Tim Roemer, Ray Kelly, James Lee Witt, Tom Kean Sr, Jane Harman, Janet Napolitano
HUD: Jim Clyburn, Valerie Jarrett, Shirley Franklin (Atlanta mayor)
Interior: Bill Richardson, Inslee, Kitzhaber, Tony Knowles, Ken Salazar
Justice (AG): Eric Holder, Janet Napolitano, Charles Ogletree, Deval Patrick, James Comey, Patrick Fitzgerald, Artur Davis, Tim Kaine, Jamie Gorelick (but was vice chair of Fannie), Ken Feinberg
Labor: Andy Stern (SEIU), Richard Gephardt, George Miller, David Bonior
State: John Kerry, Bill Richardson, Richard Lugar, Chuck Hagel, Richard Holbrooke, Chris Dodd, Hillary Clinton
Transportation: Ed Rendell, Jane Garvey, Mortimer Downey, Earl Blumenauer, Steve Heminger, James Oberstar
Treasury (priority): Larry Summers, Tim Geithner, Paul Volcker, Robert Rubin, Jon Corzine, Warren Buffett, Michael Bloomberg, Laura Tyson, Jamie Dimon, Jacob "Jack" Lew, Sheila Bair
Veterans Affairs: Max Cleland, Tammy Duckworth

OTHER POSITIONS:
CIA: Tony Lake, John Brennan
DNI: Tony Lake, John Brennan
FEMA: James Lee Witt
EPA: Howard Learner (Pres, Exec. Dir, Environmental Law and Policy Center), Ian Bowles (MA), RFK Jr, Sebelius, Kathleen McGinty (former secretary of Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection), Mary Nichols (chair of California's Air Resources Board)
FBI: Robert Mueller (term expires 2011)
Fed Chair: Ben Bernanke (at least for first year)
FDA: Steven Nissen (Cleveland Clinic), Joshua Sharfstein (Baltimore health commissioner), Janet Woodcock (Big Pharma’s choice), Susan Wood (GWU occupational and environmental health professor), Diana Zuckerman (president, National Research Center for Women & Families).
Joint Chiefs: Michael Mullen (term ends in late 2009, can expect to be appointed for second term, per tradition.)
Natl Economic Council: Jason Furman, Austan Goolsbee, Laura Tyson
NSA: Jim Steinberg
NSC: Dennis Ross, Greg Craig, Susan Rice, Tony Lake
OMB: John Spratt Jr, Gene Sperling, Furman
Peace Corps: Chris Shays
UN Amb.: Caroline Kennedy, Susan Rice
USTR: Cal Dooley (American Chemistry Council president), Daniel K. Tarullo (Georgetown University law professor), Lael Brainard (Brookings Institution vice president)

Other mentions for various White House staff posts: Patti Solis Doyle, David Wilhelm, John Rogers, Bill Daley, Cass Sunstein, Bob Bauer (WH counsel), Michael Froman, Federico Pena, Lawrence J. Korb, Carol Browner (Clinton’s EPA head)

EMAIL THIS

Comments

--“”I better not hear anymore about crapping on Hillary. I said it once and I will say it again, Obama could not and would not have won without us Hillary supporters voting for him. Could not have happened and DON'T FORGET IT! It made me sick to have to vote for him but it was better than McCain. You want a fight during the Obama term, keep up that smart talk and there will be, I promise, Division in the Ranks. You all know too well we voted for Obama reluctantly.
Kathy, Charlotte “”—

Say it all you want, Kathy, and then go take your med’s. Let me let you and all of your wanna-be-diva friends in on a little secret, WE ALL who voted for Obama put Obama in the Whitehouse and don’t YOU forget it!

Obama’s land slide shows that very likely he didn’t even need the disenfranchised Hill voters to win and because all of the voters put the man in office NOBODY owes you a damn thing. Get over yourself.

--“”Go girl! Obama will pay dearly if he screws up this deal. We will not stand for it. I like what you're saying. “”—

He will pay dearly because the voters who put him in there are the same voters who can put him out. Stop pretending that you are holding Obama or anyone else hostage as though you angry gals have some ability to, as a minority group of voters, control anything…

I’m not trying to take away the importance of anyone’s vote in the election but for any group to come up and claim sole responsibility for Obama’s win is the height of prima donna-ism. And by making the claims that the angry Hill gals are making they are certainly down playing the importance of everyone else’s vote for Obama.

BamaBoy (Sent Thursday, November 13, 2008 9:33 AM)

As I was saying all along to the Hillary supporters who were going to vote McCain...the Obama administration would look very familiar as he appoints lots of people who served in Bill Clinton's administration [its only natural to do that], and thus, his admin. would look very much like what a Hillary admin. would look like.

pat huntington ny (Sent Thursday, November 13, 2008 9:33 AM)

Geez what don't you people understand about people from the Clinton administration getting positions in the Obama administration? Every new presidential team picks from the past administration's teams. As long as none of the incompetent thieves of the current misadministration aren't allowed back then we're okay.

The list has many good names although I would never put Colin Powell in charge of Education. He has no experience and look at how poorly he performed as Secretary of State where he had no experience. Colin Powell should be Secretary of Defense, he's got lots of experience for that position and it's time to bring back the Powell Doctrine for our military, not the clueless war on the cheap nonsense from Dummy Rummy.

Yes We Did!

Eric, Salinas, CA (Sent Thursday, November 13, 2008 9:36 AM)

Rock n Roll, Obama. Looking good so far. Sure would love to flip through some of the doc's from that vault.

BamaBoy (Sent Thursday, November 13, 2008 9:37 AM)

Wait a minute...the headline sounded like here we go again. One of the biggest mistakes of the Clinton administration was that they brought in people who did not know how Washington worked. They lost precious time with on-the-job learning. In these risky times I think I want people who in their past turned a deficit into a positive balance sheet. Where's the beef regarding some of the Clinton financial people returning? Tell me! The country is in serious trouble and Paulson, in the last 48 hours has turned to a Bushie who wants to give money to banks without strings attached. It helps Wall Street, but not main street. Clinton's secretary Robert Risch (Sp) understands the issues, bring him back too.

MSNBC...Don't be dumb!!

Ron Indiana (Sent Thursday, November 13, 2008 9:38 AM)

Last night I got an email survey from Zogby, the polling organization. I've been responding to these surveys for the past year. This time, I noticed the questions were of the "push polling" sort, designed to put doubts in one's mind about Barack Obama. The survey looked just like a Zogby survey, but it was obviously a scam by people who want to raise doubts about Obama, even before he has been sworn in. And this came after the election, from people who apparently don't want Obama to succeed as president. I just want to warn peole that the far right has not gone away, just because they lost the election. Getting this email scam was very upsetting to me. I am afraid of what the far right are going to do to attack our government.

Amy B Portland, Me (Sent Thursday, November 13, 2008 9:42 AM)

Bush has set the bar so low that if all Obama does in his first term is undo some of the Bush policies, he'll be a smashing success. George W. Bush - hater of America. Be proud, the 20% of you who still support this horrible excuse of a human being.

FULL MOON (Sent Thursday, November 13, 2008 9:42 AM)

If we wanted the Clintons back in the Whitehouse, why didn't we just elect Hillary?

See No Change Here (Sent Thursday, November 13, 2008 9:46 AM)

The Clinton folks have been through a bi-partisan transition, so in that aspect, they are the only people TRULY qualified based on past experience. However, it is debateable how affective the Clinton 1992 transition was, so that could argue for not using any Clintonistas for help. But, again it is almost inevitable that Clinton folks would be used, as many of the qualified people are going to have had former ties to the Clintons (see Rahm Emanuel). Too, the Obama admin is getting much better marks thant 1992 Clinton for already for being on the ball, as he has already named his CoS (Clinton did not name most of his folks until mid-December).

Ultimately, as long as the Obama admin sticks to its established standards of the one-year look back period, no work on anything that would cause a potential/apparent conflict based upon past work, and cutting off all current lobbying ties, I think it will be fine.

Ryan, Charleston, WV (Sent Thursday, November 13, 2008 9:48 AM)

If Sarah Palin were pro-choice she wouldn't have the liberal riff-raff on her back.

Maureen Dowd and Joy Behar are two whack-jobs that will do anything to bring Ms. Palin down. They'll need to work overtime because Palin is getting more air time than Obama. She's everywhere!

Fair Game (Sent Thursday, November 13, 2008 9:50 AM)

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