Transition: Team of rivals?
Posted: Friday, November 14, 2008 9:16 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Hillary as potential Secretary of State even makes the cover of the New York Post. "Hill Job!"
NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports that Clinton's Senate office never confirmed to NBC that Clinton was in Chicago; it was another Clinton adviser who did so. Clinton's Senate office referred Mitchell to the Obama transition office.
The Wall Street Journal writes that New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine has been added to the mix as a possible Treasury secretary. “Corzine received praise Thursday from Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union. Other handicappers are following Corzine because he has such a range of experience in both the public and private sectors. He’s a former head of Goldman Sachs, the same position current Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson held. After more than two decades at Goldman, including turning the firm into a public company, he won a U.S. Senate seat. In 2005, he was elected governor. The latest polls have him at a 47% approval rating.”
Meanwhile, Politico writes that Larry Summers may have fallen off the Treasury short list. “If Summers, who’s been one of Obama’s top economic advisers, is indeed out of the mix, the odds-on favorite for Treasury secretary is New York Federal Reserve Chairman Timothy Geithner. Another possibility is that former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker would take the helm for six months, with Geithner as his deputy, and Geithner would take over later.”
Politico also reports that DNC Chair Howard Dean is not in the running for HHS secretary.
AP examines the role Biden will play in the Obama Administration. "Biden is proving to be a hands-on No. 2 to President-elect Barack Obama. He is carving out his own niche, specializing in foreign affairs, his area of expertise for decades in the Senate, and sticking close to Obama." More: "Biden has said he told Obama, before accepting the running mate slot, that he wouldn't want a peripheral assignment like reorganizing government, which Gore took on, along with other tasks. In a New Yorker interview last month, he said he told Obama: ‘I don't want to be a vice president who is not part of the major decisions you make.’”
The New York Times looks at Obama’s personal transition. Apparently Obama plans to keep his home in Chicago. As the article notes, Obama will be the first president since Nixon to be elected while residing in a big city.
Rahm Emanuel "apologized to the Arab-American community yesterday for remarks his father made to an Israeli newspaper."
Could a million people attend Obama's inauguration?
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)
