Organizing for America | Kelley Caudle's Blog: Cabinet positions thoughts of qualifications

Cabinet positions thoughts of qualifications

By Kelley Caudle (kcalabama) - May 5th, 2008 at 11:34 am EDT

Also listed in: Barack's Vice President & Cabinet | Citizen Strategy Think Tank | Republicans for Obama

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In this post, I have listed the incumbent for each current office that I know of and who I believe would be a great replacement and why.

My first take for these slots is that cabinet level positions are primarily executive level positions with few exceptions where some expertise is really required. Too many times, the secretary was awarded to a Cronie without any related experience or expertise, ever having to balance a budget, or having set policy and guidelines previously. Therefore, with the significant number of highly qualified governors with terms expiring in 2008 or 2010 – if they are competent – they should be considered as being highly qualified candidates for any cabinet position.

There are exceptions to governor being required for a cabinet position - State, Defense, NASA, NOAA, NIST, FCC are very specialized problems unique to the Federal-level and not dealt with by states on the whole. Therefore, experience with the agency / department or experience in the House/Senate with the agencies should be considered necessary to understanding the job.

Treasury is sort of a unique position where either a treasury position in a state/metropolitan area or commercial experience would be useful to execution of the position.

I put my first / 2nd / 3rd choice and why they would be excellent candidates.

Secretary of State- Bill Richardson HE IS PROBABLY THE MOST QUALIFIED PERSON IN THE COUNTRY FOR THIS SPOT.He has negotiated some really tough things in his time.

Secretary of the Treasury - Michael Bloomburg, Warren Buffet, Alan Greenspan. Any would be excellent

Secretary of Defense - Sam Nunn, Paul Eaton, Wesley Clark. Sam Nunn has extensive experience in Sen Armed Services Committee – well respected by Defense Community at large. Any of these three are highly qualified. Paul Eaton and Wesley Clark are retired general officers. While Hagel might be another good choice, he is not as well respected in the defense community as Nunn and DTRA (nuclear non-proliferation agency) might be a better choice for Hagel.

Attorney General- John Edwards, Jennifer Granholm (Gov MI), Mike Easley (Gov NC), John Greensgold. All excellent choices with experience in Attorney General offices or in court.

Secretary of the Interior- - Mike Chrisman, Dennis Kucinich. Chrisman is currently the head of CA Resource Agency – and runs 20+ large agencies. Interior is that big of a job with just as diverse a set of agencies beneath it.CA is the only state that has almost as large of a set of agencies to deal with.

Secretary of Agriculture - Sonny Perdue (Gov GA), Mike Rounds (Gov SD), John Baldacci (Gov Maine). eed a governor who has dealt with big ag issues and the impacts of drought, bio-engineering, global warming, etc.

Secretary of Commerce - Bob Riley (Gov Ala), Mike Easley (Gov NC), Jennifer Granholm (Gov MI).
All 3 have done an excellent job at bringing lots of foreign jobs and companies TO their states in spite of the feds.

Secretary of Labor - Hillary Clinton, Ruth Ann Minner (Gov Del). If Hillary is in the cabinet – I pick here. This directly relates to her reform agendas.

Secretary of HHS - Phil Bredesen (Gov TN), William Harrison "Bill" Frist, Sr. (R) retired Senator TN. Bredesen was started a health insurance company prior to becoming Mayor of Nashville and Governor. He has the experience necessary to reform Health. Primary agenda was to reform BCBS and Medicare of TN.Frist was controversial in Shiavo case but he is pro-stem cell research and has the experience in HHS – works for Doctors w/o borders right now.

Secretary of HUD - Kathleen Sebelius (If not VP or AG). One of the last jobs I'd fill right now.

Secretary of Transportation - Tim Kaine (Gov VA), Arnold Schwarzenegger (R Gov CA). Kaine has done a decent job of getting the infrastructure upgraded throughout VA. Arnold also has one of the largest transportation infrastructures in the country.

Secretary of Energy - Dave Freudenthal (Gov WY), Brad Henry (Gov OK). Freudenthal has implemented significant changes throughout WY to increase natural resources as well as nuclear and other power systems.

Secretary of Education - Mike Huckabee (Gov AR), Mark Sanford (Gov SC). Education believes their job is to act as a bank. If so - then it should be consolidated with Treasury. Both governors have done wonders for their states in Education – in spite of No Child Left Behind

Secretary of Veterans Affairs - John McCAIN, Colin Powell, Ted Kulongoski (Gov OR) - all veterans

Secretary of Homeland Security - Janet Napolitano (Gov AZ), Lt. General Russel Honore (NA). She has to deal with DHS constantly… E is the man that got N.O. out of their mess and he has the experience of working with Coast Guard and National Guard – needed for this position.

White House Chief of Staff - TOO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM!

Administrator of the EPA - Al Gore, Kucinich. This is what global warming is all about… not energy.

Director of the OMB - Kucinich, Kathleen Sebelius. He did an excellent job in managing the money for his state.

United States Trade Representative - Jennifer Granholm (Gov MI), Bob Riley (Gov Ala). Pick a candidate that is in the commerce bucket

NASA Still thinking about this

FEMA - Halley Barber (Gov Miss), Phil Bryant(Lt. Gov Miss), Lt. General Russel Honore. These guys made FEMA look like the sick organization it was

NOAA - Bud Cramer (Rep Huntsville) Bud has been a leading factor in getting funding and infrastructure for NOAA and upgrades to national weather service warning systems.

FCC Still thinking about this

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TOO LONG | Report to Admin

By mystery08 May 5th 2008 at 11:52 am EDT

Please follow the rules. Add a link to your blog. This way others Blogging will not be pushed off the front page. But, thank u for your cabinet view point.

Re: TOO LONG | Report to Admin

By Kelley Caudle (kcalabama) May 5th 2008 at 2:33 pm EDT

Ok - I'll fix this - thanks!

Thanks again | Report to Admin

By Taube May 5th 2008 at 12:23 pm EDT

Hey kcalabama - if you go to our separate blog at Link we have a link to the Executive branch so people can see which agencies report into which cabinet position.

Thank you for highlighting the need for management experience.

to quote Lincoln "fitness, not faction"

If you look at Barack Cabinet's blog, on March 31, I posted an article from National Journal that gave brief bios of "Obama's Inner Circle" - core campaign staff, and advisors on economy, national security, justice/legal, immigration, health care, environment. Some Cabinet Secretaries may come from this group, but certainly they will be shaping the final list of appointments.

I might add that, contrary to populist belief, there are some excellent corporate managers and university presidents to choose from.
I suggested Susan Kropf, former COO of Avon, for SecCommerce, and Ruth Simmons, President of Brown University for Sec Education. I have personal experience with both, they each came up the hard way, inspire high motivation and teamwork, and have been hugely successful in their private sector careers.

As to SecTreas, two excellent candidates are Alan Blinder, former Fed Reserve and current Princeton economist; and Sheila Bair, current chm FDIC, whose understanding of the thicket of regulatory agencies is breathtaking.

Susan Eisenhower should be considered for SecDef, based on her experience, and maybe a better choice at the #2 slot which has operational responsibility. All signs point to Chuck Hagel as SecDef. The generals can get used to a former grunt.

Anyway, just to suggest that elected officials are not the only pool for managerial talent...and re-motivating the career employees is also going to be an important challenge.

Re: Thanks again | Report to Admin

By Kelley Caudle (kcalabama) May 5th 2008 at 2:30 pm EDT

Don't disagree, the governor pool just happens to be in massive quantities this time - what an unusual blessing. I know several of the people near the top of DoD... and they are all fairly qualified to be a SecDef also. I like to see people with very good qualifications that are balanced - sometimes the lifetime agency people don't always have the best perspective on how to change it which is unfortunate. They fall into a that's not hows its done far too often - and we do need to get some of these agencies fixed. I also agree that corporate execs make pretty good managers - but I also realize how "different" a government agency is from the private sector - having worked both.

Both your choices in Secretary Treasury spot have experience on the Federal side - so not bad choices...

My Obama Cabinet | Report to Admin

By Adam from Hopkins, MN May 12th 2008 at 11:06 pm EDT

State Department: I think it will go to Anthony Lake. He has been advising Obama since his 2004 campaign for the U.S. Senate and has record in diplomacy and foreign affairs stretching back as far the 1960's.
Other cnadidates: Bill Richardson, Susan E. Rice, Richard Danzig, Joe Biden, Tony McPeak, and Dick Lugar

Treasury Department: This is wide open for any one to claim. However, leading candidates are Michael Bloomberg, Bill Bradley, and Austan Goolsbee (More likely to be Chairman of Council of Economic Adivsors)
Other candidates: Jeffery Lieberman, Kent Conrad, Timothy F. Geithner, Steven Rattner, John Kerry, Laura Tyson, Lawrence Summers, Henry Paulson, Ben Bernanke, Robert Reich, Robert Rubin, Bill Daley, and Tom Daschle

Defense Department: Not better man then Colin Powell. No one has more experience then Powell, former NSA Advisor, former Chairman of Joint chiefs, former Secretary of State. He needs to redeem himself and he is already informally advising Obama. It also doesn't kill to have a little bipartisanship.
Other candidates: Chuck Hagel, Richard Danzig, Sam Nunn, and Jack Reed

Justice Department: This is a toss up between John Edwards (the frontrunner), Eric Holder (the man on the inside), and Janet Napolitano. Personally i like Napolitano, she has long record as a U.S. Attorney, State Attorney General, and Governor of Arizona, and she has a strong stance on immigration.
Other candidates: Artur Davis, Deval Patrick, Laurence Tribe, and Russ Feingold

Interior Department: Bill Richardson is the man for the job. He has a strong record on the environment, natural resources, and native american issues as Energy Secretary and a U.S. congressman. He can also bring the environment to a international stage as a regarded diplomat, like Al Gore did. Also he was also on the short list for Clinton Interior in '93. However, he might not want to leave the governorship for interior and try to hold out for state, but I feel he would be to much of a rocky nominee.
Other candidates: Gary Locke, Tony Knowles, Mark or Tom Udall (if they lose their senate races), Jim Doyle, and Carol Browner.

I will post the rest of my cabinet later.

Re: My Obama Cabinet | Report to Admin

By Adam from Hopkins, MN May 12th 2008 at 11:58 pm EDT

To continue what I was saying before.

Agriculture Department: Patty Judge is perfect, especially if Obama carries Iowa. She was served the Iowa state legislature and then was the state agriculture secretary for eight years. She was also let down when she didn't get the governors nomination in 2006, but she now serves as Lt. Governor of Iowa. I'm sure she would be happy to be Ag Sec for awhile and then run for Governor again in 2014.
Other candidates: Ron Kind, Brian Schweitzer, and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin

Commerce Department: This could be another toss up. However, I think the leading candidate is Penny Pritzker. She is Obama's finance director and from a successful Chicago business family which could be a good or bad thing.
Other candidates: Bill Daley, Karen Kornbluh, Ray Mabus, Tim Kaine, and Federico Pena.

Labor Department: Linda Sanchez. She was a labor lawyer and a steel workers union member before entering congress in 2003. She has a good record on labor in the house. Not to mention that she is young (39) and latina.
Other candidates: Linda Chavez-Thompson, Andy Stern, John Edwards, and Robert Reich

HHS Department: I feel David Cutler, a Harvard professor, is a leading candidate. He is well known for health care economics and is one of the chief advisors to Obama on the issue.
Other candidates: John Kitzhaber and Kathleen Sebelius (If not VP)

HUD Department: Shirley Franklin hand down. She has a very long record working in the urban community and she turned Atlanta's sewer problem around. No one is better suited for the job.

Transportation Department: Greg Nickels is the leading candidate for the post. As mayor he has broke ground on a new transit line and he sits as Chairman of the Transportation and Communications Committee for the U.S. Mayors Conference.
Other candidates: Nick Rahall, Federico Pena, Jane Garvey, Jim Oberstar, R.T. Rybak, and Mike Honda

Energy Department: This is another one that is wide open. The leading candidates are Clinton former EPA Director, Carol Browner, Republican Senator Dick Lugar, California businessman Steve Westly, and WA Governor Christine Gregorie. All valid candidiates in the environmental world.
Other candidates: Jason Grumet, Howard Learner, and Christine Todd Whitman.

Re: My Obama Cabinet | Report to Admin

By Adam from Hopkins, MN May 13th 2008 at 12:10 am EDT

Eduaction Department: I beleive Jim Hodges, former Governor of South Carolina, or Ray Mabus, former Governor of Mississippi, would both do well. Bother were governors at the time whenvsouth reformed their educational programs and had success. Mabus was named one of best Education governors during his tenure.
Other candidates: Inez Tenenbaum, Jim Hunt, Mike Easley, Anna Eshoo, Gaston Caperton, and Geaorge Miller

Veteran Affairs Department: Tammy Duckworth is great. She is a handicapped Iraq war veteran with a PhD. She now runs the Illinois VA Department since fall 2006 after her congressinal loss. Not to mention that she is young and would be the first woman and asian as VA secretary

Homeland Security: Timothy J. Roemer is the leading candidate. 9/11 Commission and former congressman. Plus he really campaigned hard for Obama in Indiana primary.
Other candidates: Max Cleland, Chuck Hagel, Tony McPeak, and Daniel Akaka.

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