Obama's Cabinet

In the past few weeks, many of us have heard rumors on President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet choices, but haven't really taken a close look at these advisors. Obama has announced many of these positions, and "will have nearly named his entire Cabinet by Christmas." In this blog post I hope to introduce you to each of the announced Cabinet members, and give you a sense of who they are.

• Timothy Geithner (Democrat)- Treasury Secretary. Geithner is currently New York's ninth president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank. He joined the Dept. of Treasury in 1988 and has worked in various administrative positions. He was also the director of the Policy Development and Review Department at the International Monetary Fund from 2001-2003.

• Hillary Clinton (Democrat)- Secretary of State. Clinton is a Senator (since 2000), who won the support of many Americans in her run for the Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton would manage foreign affairs as secretary of state. The question has been raised in the constitutionality of this pick; article one, section six of the Constitution says elected officials may not take other government jobs if the salary was raised during their term. This would apply to Clinton. However, I imagine this technicality will be overlooked for the greater good of the American people. 

• Bill Richardson (Democrat) -Commerce Secretary. Richardson is New Mexico's Governor. Bill Clinton named him U.S. Secretary of Energy in 1998, and he is a UN ambassador, giving him lots of experience in the political field. He taught at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, became a member of the Inter-American Dialogue, became the first Hispanic to serve in a Cabinet level position, and served in New Mexico's 3rd Congressional District, and was reelected 8 times. He was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to free hostages in Burma, Cuba, Iraq, North Koea, and Sudan.

• Janet Napolitano (Democrat)- Homeland Security Secretary. Napolitano is the Governor of Arizona (elected originally in 2002). Named one of Time's top five governors in the US, many expected her to make a run for presidency in 2008.

• Tom Daschle (Democrat)- Health and Human Services Secretary. Daschle is a former Senator and Senate Majority Leader and Minority Leader (1986-2003). Post Senate, Daschle worked at a law firm, and invigorated his PAC for new leadership.

• Eric Holder (Democrat)- Attorney General. Holder is a former judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, US Attorney, and Deputy Attorney General. He has been a legal advisor to Obama throughout the campaign, and was one of Obama's top picks for VP. 

• Robert Gates (Republican)- Defense Secretary. Gates is the only Republican amongst this group, and served this particular position in the Bush presidency. Before joining Bush's Cabinet, he served 26 years in the CIA and the National Security Council and became the Director of Central Intelligence. 

Although this is an extremely partisan group (which could only be expected), I feel that Obama chose very bright, experienced officials. I am interested to get other peoples' reactions to the Cabinet choices. We will see how this group plays out in the coming months.