Your 2008 Obama Cabinet/Appointments Speculation Thread

Ambassador to the UN: Bill Clinton?

Secretary of State: Richard Holbrooke

Hils for SCotUS

jesse jackson jr
bill richardson
susan rice
chuck hagel
artur davis
chris dodd
max cleland

bill ayers
angela davis
abbie hoffman
malcolm x

osama bin laden

yeah i am more interested in sup. ct. appointments but i don't really know how those happen. there are a lot of judges.

hills says no but her ego says yes

and it's not a bad thing in this instance

I thot she was gunning for majority leader. I personally would prefer Dodd or Feingold in that role, but there you go.

I'm wondering if Richardson and Gore will get seats, special or not

Job 4 Life vs. Majority Leader for ?????? years?

i don't think obama would appoint hillary to the court or that she would accept

ffs, stop being so cocky.

mentally prepare yourselves for some bradley effect/israel bombs iran scenario or you'll be suicidal on election day if mccain wins. REALLY don't get yr hopes too high, it's not over yet.

I think Hills for SCOTUS would be great. I mean, I think she'd be best in a position where she doesn't have to "do" politics.

ugh xpost

i do not think she would be great, at all. but better than half the people on the court, obviously

never underestimate human stupidity.
xpost

I imagine Robert Gates will remain at the Pentagon and Patraeus will be appointed CJCS (however, I don’t believe this will be immediate.) Both are clearly the two most qualified people for the respective positions and both strike me as having personalities that would mesh well with an Obama administration (i.e. drama free intellectuals).

That aside, I have no idea. Nothing posted so far seems plausible. As both candidates have mentioned a new treasury secretary needs to have the confidence of the taxpayers, which makes many of the names that have come up in the past (nerds) implausible. Buffet, all politics aside, does seem likely.

it won't be Buffett

There is an old tradition, that weakened as the 20th century progressed, of appointing senior politicians with a judicial temperment to the SCOTUS. HRC might fit into that mold, but I'm not sure one way or the other. I want Thurgood Marshall back, dammit!

CQ speculates

http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/7788/obdemcxr2.jpg

Hils for SCotUS

Suggest Ban Permalink
― Johnny Fever, Friday, October 17, 2008 5:33 PM Bookmark

My mom (who was an Obama supporter in the primary, and who says Hilz pissed her off with her "stand by my man" act) has said this a couple times to me. I don't really have any problem with the idea.

I do - it will do nothing but aggravate the continuous stream of "the judges are political hacks legislating from the bench!" talk. I mean come on. You want to put one of the most divisive figures in American politics in one of the most divisive offices in the government?

It would be a fitting payback for Clarence Thomas.

I think Hills for SCOTUS would be great. I mean, I think she'd be best in a position where she doesn't have to "do" politics.

have you such contempt for the law?

if the dems get 60 who gives a shit what the republicans think

Maybe beneath years of dogged political hackwork, HRC has published legal work that would put her at the level of George Sutherland, Hugo Black, and William O. Douglas -- three justices with long careers in the legislature and who weren't shy about flaunting their political affiliations -- but I doubt it.

i don't think the problem is that she's divisive, she would be no matter where she was, and it doesn't matter what people think, yeah. the "legislating from the bench" garbage will go on without her, too. i just think it would be shitty. i think there are probably plenty of qualified women judges who deserve to be there and nothing about her says supreme court i guess. it would look like a consolation prize for being beaten in the primary. i also really don't like her.

anyway i don't think obama would appoint her if stephens kicked the bucket

Obama may very well dangle a Cabinet position, but she won't accept. She's gonna keep a sharp eye on him through 2012.

Steinem was on Oprah yesterday saying "I wanted 8 years of Hilary followed by 8 years of Obama. Now, God willing, we'll get 8 years of Obama followed by 8 years of Hilary!"

lol dowager hilz

there is a decent chance that Sonia Sotomayor would be appointed to the Court

Sotomayor. And, no. Sorry pal.

Chuck Hagel isn't running for re-election; he would be a good fit somewhere, maybe Sec of State.

Sotomayor

that's what I said

gore for EPA chief. would he take it? I'm sure he'd be asked.

I don't think he'd be asked, but he'd definitely be asked for a list of potential names.

http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/the-democratic-not-so-short-list/

if Clarke hadn't already made it clear he wasn't interested in going back into government, he'd be the new cyber security guy for certain. Karen Evans will most likely not be keeping the OMB spot. Look to senior CSIS tankers for other positions, they're apparently big with Obama. Most important to me: http://www.csis.org/tech/cyber/

I suspect Homeland is going to be gutted under Obama/Biden/Reid/Pelosi. Good riddance. This has big natl security and energy implications for the Treasury and Transportation appointments.

btw everybody who is all don't count your chickens can eat me. My main concern, because enthusiasm is cousin to paranoid, was the bobby scenario: I went to see him in Columbus at an open air rally with so many scary sightlines I thought the USSS must be crazy to let him do this. Then I saw how they handle shit. The man will not be taken down. Additionally, at this point, McCain could catch Osama Bin Laden alive in an open-field tackle next week at a football game, pick up the fumble and run it in for a touchdown against evil, and he'd still lose because 1. he looked unpleasant doing it and 2. WHUT ABAWT MAH JAWB.

McCain could catch Osama Bin Laden alive in an open-field tackle next week at a football game, pick up the fumble and run it in for a touchdown against evil

Yeah, I might still not vote for him, but that I'd love to see.

http://i11.tinypic.com/53ucxtl.gif

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/09ejbGJ97l6Y4/610x.jpg

http://techblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/10/google-ceo-eric-schmidt-report.html

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/the_obama_transition_dont_forg.php

I could pour out a thousand words about that Ambinder post, but I’ll settle with a few comments:

- Assuming Ambinder’s ‘rumint’ is correct: Danzig presents a bizarre choice for the post. However, it is not absurd to assume he would be asked. If I were to guess, I would say that Gates would stay on and I imagine that he would be on the top of an Obama administration's list. However, Obama will be facing an even greater Democratic majority who will undoubtedly include members who will insist a liberalization of the Pentagon. Danzig would provide this. I suspect Danzig’s name won’t be the only one we’ll hear in the next few weeks, or months to clutter the field.

- John Kerry should not be secretary of state. At this point, is this a debate worth having?

- A ‘CTO’ would be nothing more than a lobbyist for the Valley. Also, who would want Google baggage? Schmidt hardly adheres to the “no drama” policy.

- Deval Patrick’s name floating for attorney general is a nice gesture but little more.

- Buffet: this is real. He’s beginning to campaign and, while I’m only 24 I’ve never seen Buffet not get what he wants. I also suspect that he’d be a great choice.

- Ron Noble is an obvious and acceptable choice.

- Everything else is absurd. Cass Sunstein and Robert Sussman less so, but still absurd.

yeah I figure, I mean, Ambinder, lol.

Buffett for treasury would be fan fucking tastic.
also schmidt for CTO could be really highly entertaining/4 teh lulz. US GOVT BUYS TWITTER. think what he could do for cspan.

Danzig v. impressive in a recent campaign appearance, with solid answers on Africom & a whole host of issues. I played the ex-Marine card to buttonhole him one-on-one re Korea, and asked him straight up about SoD. His answer was political.

Obama needs a playah for HHS. Someone with a big old howdy and a backslap and a razor in his boot.

you know very well no one else here got/would have gotten the list as right as i did, deej, stfu (and there's good reason for that, tho i concede you wouldn't know why). i had reason to believe that hatch might surprise a little too, but that seemed a bridge too far, i admit. gregg was the guy i came closest to including, though - i've long thought of him as having some serious-if-somewhat-buried moderate tendencies, in part due to work he did benefiting the school he and i and obama share - but i was swayed by how conservative he voted even late under bush (after the election of hodes and shea-porter), including a turn against research funding. while it's more likely he's now been freed by obama, my paranoid side still wonders if there isn't a tiny chance he might end up some kind of trojan horse.

nyt says hhs list is sebelius, rendell, granholm, and kitzhaber - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/us/politics/04assess.html?_r=1&hp

...and right this second they're being asked for every last receipt back to 1982.

Related question: is the statue of limitations seven years?

http://www.macalester.edu/~fines/lionel/media/lionel%20richie%20sculpture.jpg

statue of limitations

which port does the Statue of Limitations stand in? I'm guessing Newark.

Oh the nonroffles.

My favorite result:

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/richlee/Thoughts/woody%20allen.jpg

Kitzhaber knows health care in and out, and he'd be a slambang choice. He'd need some DC insiders as top aides, to help him with the inside baseball part of the job. But if he came to DC he'd be utterly miserable and he knows it. I'd say his accepting an offer would depend on how committed he is to Obama's program, as opposed to something less compromised.

Hippie looking fucker, though.

Not hippie, backwoods. Kitzhaber is the kind of guy who is happiest standing in an Oregon trout stream casting wet flies for a couple of hours. That's why he'd be miserable in DC. Power mad he ain't.

Kitzhaber would rule if he wants it.

Republicans admit to emulating the Taliban

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/02/05/quote_of_the_day.html

i can understand why saying it that way is politically embarrassing but do you think no politician should ever try to learn stuff from other powerful but shitty goverments?

^yes

sorta like 'the Chicago Machine,' say

Dr Morbius just compared 'the Chicago Machine' (whatever that is) to the Taliban

chicago house

i invite him to move to the Helmand

Suggest Taliban Permafink

stfu forever and stay off I Love Baseball slobknob

lol

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/02/06/who_will_obama_pick_for_hhs_secretary.html

Bredesen - being vetted
Sebelius - a leading candidate
Wyden - a potential candidate
Dean - these two liberal guys like him

is it possible the GOP has been holding back its serious opposition for solis, because they care more about card check than anything else?

i hope people are writing to their senators and politely urging them to vote for solis

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008731191_kerlikowske11m.html

Current Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske will be workin for Obama, possibly as the Drug Czar.

For the REAL ILX issues, an excerpt:

Kerlikowske's possible role in shaping drug policy for the Obama administration was applauded Tuesday by local medical-marijuana advocates.

In 2003, Kerlikowske opposed a city ballot measure, approved by voters, to make marijuana possession the lowest law-enforcement priority, saying it would create confusion. But in doing so, he noted that arresting people for possessing marijuana for personal use was already not a priority.

"Oh God bless us," said Joanna McKee, co-founder and director of Green Cross Patient Co-Op, a medical-marijuana patient-advocacy group. "What a blessing — the karma gods are smiling on the whole country, man."

McKee said Kerlikowske knows the difference between cracking down on the illegal abuse of drugs and allowing the responsible use of marijuana.

Douglas Hiatt, a Seattle attorney and advocate for medical-marijuana patients, said his first preference would be for a physician to oversee national drug policy.

But Kerlikowske would be a vast improvement over past drug czars, who have used the office to carry out the so-called "war on drugs," Hiatt said.

Kerlikowske is a "very reasonable guy" who would likely bring more liberal policies to the job, Hiatt said.

"Oh God bless us," said Joanna McKee, co-founder and director of Green Cross Patient Co-Op, a medical-marijuana patient-advocacy group. "What a blessing — the karma gods are smiling on the whole country, man."

0.5 seconds in noting money quote! Heavens ;-)

btw, Kerlikowske was brought in the replace the previous guy who bungled the whole WTO thing, so no WTO jokes. (although you can make Mardi Gras and nightlife crackdown jokes.)

MSNBC reporting that Judd Clegg is withdrawing nomination.

Huh.

"It has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the census there are irresolvable conflicts for me," Gregg said in a statement to be released by his office. "Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns."

I hate jargon.

Reads a bit weak. Surely they all knew that going in.

lol judd gregg

Gary Locke for commerce?

(former WA gov)

not 100% sure what I think about that

Looks good on paper -- what's the rap against him, Rev?

in your answer to that question you actually have to rap, rodney

http://www.personadondada.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/dangerfield.jpeg

lol @ "instrumental version" b-side. Great song though, doesn't get enough respect around here.

Solis finally confirmed for Labor, good news.

happy?

Happier. That was my fave appt. so far, so no surprise it got the biggest and least justified partisan blockage.

Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, will not leave his television career to become the U.S. surgeon general, he told network officials, according to sources familiar with decision.

There was not immediate word to explain his decision.

dag

As the NY Times says:

The Obama Administration just got a lot less sexy.

Can't wait for Morbius's take on this.

wait more

(or see Capitalism: A Love Story)

Wait, Moore?

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/74723-michael-moore-on-dodd-retirement-i-told-you-so

John Bryson car/life crash