The Makeup of the new administration

I heard this is the kind they use.

It was "confirmed" that he'll be Chief of Staff, but then an update says er not so much:



It seems definite that it's been offered but not whether it's been accepted.

there had been "rumours" earlier that secretary of defence gates will be in the new admin ?

I don't know, hamburger. I hope somebody can help us out on that.

CNBC mentioned that LARRY SUMMERS might be the next secretary of the treasury

edgar :

i just hope that president-elect obama (and the american people) don't get sucked into the afghanistan malstrom !
i would hope that he has advisors that will warn him not to get dragged into afghanistan deeply .

(imo the large and influential countries of asia and the middle-east should play the major role in bringing peace and stability to afghanistan , and not the countries of the west .
i'm somewhat surprised how calm and quiet the japanese government remains in this "crisis" - perhaps it's not a real crisis . )

wishing you and your new administration all the besst !
hbg

I would hope he can see that the war is as much of a drag on the nation's well being as Iraq.

Barack Obama likes to listen. But as President, there will be a limit to how much time he can devote to it. Who has his ear? A survey of Obama's inner circles (that's plural): The Chicago Crew Washington will be the Windy City on the Potomac; the locals will bring a pragmatic style that sees any problem as a municipal one writ large (there is, as they say, no ideology in snow removal). Mayor Richard Daley and his banker brother William are mentors. Sen. Dick Durbin, a Richard Daley ally from downstate, will be the go-to guy in the Senate. The billionaire Pritzker and Crown families supplied early fundraising contacts (as did investment banker John Rogers), and Penny Pritzker, Obama's finance chair, is likely to get the commerce-secretary job. Valerie Jarrett, a former Daley staffer who once hired Michelle Obama for a city job, is the Obamas' closest personal and political friend; she is likely to be a presence in the White House. So is Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a Daley protégé, who may well be in line to become chief of staff.

Council of Elders Obama is the kind of serious, ambitious young man who attracts veterans to his side. And party labels seem to matter little to him. Sen. Richard Lugar, the Republicans' leading light on foreign policy, was an early Obama ally, and remains one. Put Paul Volcker, Warren Buffett and Gen. Colin Powell in this category, too. In Obama, Powell sees a man who could inspire the young and increasingly multicultural officer corps, and Powell has said that Obama is one of the most receptive and perceptive "briefs" he has conducted.

Clintonistas For the Clintons, losing to Obama was bad enough. Now they have to endure the spectacle of Obama's surrounding himself with the best and the brightest of the Clinton administration. It's not surprising: these are the Democrats with the most experience and, if Obama chooses carefully, the best performance record. Through his son Jamie, former Treasury secretary (and current Citibank chairman) Bob Rubin is in this new circle. So is another former Clinton Treasury secretary, Larry Summers, who could be asked to go another round. John Podesta, a former Clinton chief of staff, runs a think tank that may supply a host of midlevel officials. Laura Tyson, who was Clinton's economic adviser, is now performing a similar function. Since he was running against Senator Clinton, Obama was reluctant to credit her husband's economic track record; now Obama is seeking the advice of the people responsible for it.

Old Stomping Grounds Although he has been in the Senate only four years, Obama has forged key friendships. Sen. John Kerry endorsed Obama early; Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican who has been critical of GOP policy in Iraq, may join the administration. Former senator Tom Daschle furnished Obama with an entire Senate staff"his"and has served as the campaign wise man. Obama staffers from the Senate, such as Karen Kornbluh (domestic policy) and Susan Rice (foreign policy), will remain key players, even as the think tank Kornbluh was with"the centrist, market-oriented New America Foundation"gets layered by Podesta's more traditional Democratic types.

Ivy Tech Educated at Columbia and Harvard Law, Obama has drawn to his side an impressive cadre of similarly credentialed types, most of them entrepreneurs who are smart about rising sectors of the new economy, especially communications and digital technology. It helps explain why Obama's campaign was a cutting-edge exercise in phone, texting and Web-based salesmanship: it's the business that many of those around him know well, and they will be pushing the use of these techniques (and the prerogatives of these industries) in and around the White House. The lead player in the group is Julius Genachowski, who went to Columbia and Harvard with Obama and worked on digital startups with Barry Diller. Others include two former chairs of the Federal Communications Commission, Reed Hundt and Bill Kennard, who were major fundraisers, too.

Larry Summers!? Let's hope not.

Lawrence Henry “Larry” Summers (born November 30, 1954) is an American economist. He is currently the Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He is the 1993 recipient of the John Bates Clark Medal for his work in macroeconomics and was Secretary of the Treasury for the last year and a half of the Bill Clinton administration. He also served as the 27th President of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006.

Several media reports indicate that Summers is among the candidates to succeed Henry Paulson as Secretary of the Treasury in 2009.[1][2]

In three instances during his time as Harvard president, Summers made remarks that touched on political "hot-button" controversies. Environmentalists, affirmative action advocates, and many women and those concerned with women's issues took offense and brought increasing pressure on Harvard, contributing to his resignation. Summers also proposed reforming undergraduate education and requested that professors take greater responsibility in teaching their undergraduate classes, as opposed to delegating to teaching fellows. His resignation resulted in hundreds of millions in pledged contributions being canceled by donors; Summers was widely supported by Harvard college alumni, as well as students and faculty at Harvard University's professional schools (in particular Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School). Some viewed Summers' departure as an indicator that the humanities faculty at the College had power that was disproportionately large relative to their contributions to the University. [3]

Summers left his position as President of Harvard on June 30, 2006, and was replaced by former University President Derek Bok as acting Interim President the next day. Summers has accepted an invitation to return to the University following a planned sabbatical for the 2006"07 academic year as one of Harvard's select University Professors. Separately, as announced on October 19, 2006, he became a part-time managing director of the investment and technology development firm D. E. Shaw & Co.

For the complete article

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Summers

Or Robert Rubin, or Paul Volcker. All three would be extremely competent, though Volcker seems a bit old to me.

Just plonking this link here so I can find it later.

Huffpo's cabinet gossip page

Too bad Billy Carter is dead. He could be head of the malt liquor cabinet.

Here's a link to the official President-elect Obama website.

http://www.change.gov/

You can access this from the change.gov site, but here's a direct link to the site for the transitional government page.

http://directory.presidentialtransition.gov/

Thanks, butrflynet. Both times.

CHICAGO " Barack Obama is signaling a shift in tactics and temperament as he moves from candidate to president-elect, picking sharp-elbowed Washington insiders for top posts. His choice Thursday for White House chief of staff " Rahm Emanuel, a fiery partisan who doesn't mind breaking glass and hurting feelings " is a significant departure from the soft-spoken, low-key aides that "No-Drama Obama" has surrounded himself with during his campaign.

And transition chief John Podesta, like Emanuel, is a former top aide to Bill Clinton and a tough partisan infighter, though less bombastic than the new chief of staff.

The selections are telling for Obama, who campaigned as a nontraditional, almost "post-partisan" newcomer. People close to him say the selections show that Obama is aware of his weaknesses as well as his strengths and knows what he needs to be successful as he shifts from campaigning to governing.

"No one I know is better at getting things done than Rahm Emanuel," Obama said in a statement announcing the selection.

Obama, who survived a long contest with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, also has made it clear he will rely heavily on veterans of her husband's eight-year administration, the only Democratic presidency in the past 28 years. Podesta was President Clinton's chief of staff, and several other former Clinton aides are on Obama's short lists for key jobs, Democratic officials say. Some of them helped write a large briefing book on how to govern, assembled under Podesta's supervision.

Obama himself brims with self-confidence, to the point that some people view him as arrogant. But to a greater degree than many presidents, he appears willing to lean on Washington insiders associated with other politicians.

Still, he is also certain to bring to the White House a cadre of longtime aides.

Emanuel accepted Obama's offer with a gesture of bipartisanship, addressing part of his statement to Republicans. "We often disagree, but I respect their motives," Emanuel said. "Now is a time for unity, and, Mr. President-elect, I will do everything in my power to help you stitch together the frayed fabric of our politics, and help summon Americans of both parties to unite in common purpose."

That would come as news to some Republicans.

In contrast to Obama's collegial style and that of his top campaign advisers, Emanuel is known as a foul-mouthed practitioner of brass-knuckled politics who relishes both conflict and publicity. He once mailed a dead fish to a political foe.

But he also earned a reputation for pragmatic efficiency, whether the goal was winning House elections for Democrats or working with Republicans to enact Clinton's centrist political agenda.

"Rahm knows Capitol Hill and has great political skills," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. "He can be a tough partisan but also understands the need to work together."

House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio was less kind. He called his appointment an "ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil and govern from the center."

Democrats say Obama is self-assured enough to acknowledge his limitations by the appointments he makes.

"I know what I'm good at. I know what I'm not good at. I know what I know, and I know what I don't know," Obama once told Pete Rouse as he prepared to move up from Illinois state senator to the U.S. Senate.

Thus, when Obama was elected to the Senate, he picked Rouse, a press-averse former top aide to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, to run his Capitol Hill office. When Obama embarked on his presidential campaign, he chose advisers with presidential campaign experience like the studious David Plouffe as campaign manager and the even-keeled David Axelrod as chief strategist.

Axelrod is likely to get a job as a top adviser at the White House, and Robert Gibbs is the likely pick for press secretary. Gibbs has been Obama's longtime spokesman and confidant, at his side from his 2004 Senate campaign through the long days on the presidential campaign trail.

In Emanuel, Obama has chosen a fellow Chicagoan who intimately knows both the White House and Congress, as a former political and policy aide for President Clinton and a current Illinois congressman who is the No. 4 Democrat in the House.

Obama frequently sought Emanuel's advice during the presidential race, according to one campaign official.

Emanuel said he weighed family and political considerations before accepting the job on Thursday, according to Democratic officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid angering Obama. He will have to resign his congressional seat and put aside hopes of becoming speaker of the House.

With the selection, Democrats say Obama seemed to recognize that he may have his work cut out for him in taming the House: Liberals may try to push their own agenda, not necessarily Obama's. They say Emanuel is someone who not only can stand up to Congress but also maneuver through it to achieve a chief executive's goals.

And, Emanuel provides something Obama lacks " a temperament and willingness to snarl, even at his boss' allies.

To varying degrees, the party's liberals and labor leaders are wary of Emanuel. He helped Clinton push the North American Free Trade Agreement through the House, angering the left.

Nonetheless, Democrats praised the selection. Said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.: "He is the perfect choice. He knows the Hill, he knows substance, he knows politics, and most importantly, he can get the job done."

Even before Tuesday's election, Obama had turned to Podesta to start laying the foundation of an Obama administration. His role became official Wednesday with the announcement that he, along with Rouse and close Obama family friend Valerie Jarrett would lead the transfer of power and chair a transition advisory board stocked with longtime Democratic Party hands.

Separately on Thursday, Obama met privately at the FBI office in Chicago with U.S. intelligence officials, preparing to become commander in chief. He received his first president's daily brief, a document written mostly by the Central Intelligence Agency and including the most critical overnight intelligence. It is accompanied by a briefing from top intelligence officials.

Later, Obama met with his transition team leaders who are tasked with building his entire administration in 10 weeks.

Advisers said he was emphasizing care over speed, with no plans to announce Cabinet positions this week.

From Washington to Chicago, names of people said to be jockeying for spots in an Obama administration or under consideration by the transition team spread through the rumor mill. Some Democrats say retired Marine Gen. James Jones was being discussed as secretary of state. Also, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a Republican, was said to be interested in becoming Education secretary.

Obama has indicated he'd like a bipartisan Cabinet, and Republicans who are potential candidates include Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel and Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar.

The president-elect planned his first public appearances since his victory for Friday, a meeting with economic advisers followed by a news conference. Obama and his wife, Michelle, also planned to visit the White House on Monday at President Bush's invitation.

Obama planned to stay home through the weekend, with a blackout on news announcements so that he and his staff could get some rest after a grueling campaign and the rush of their win Tuesday night. He is planning a trip to Hawaii in December to get away with his family before their move to the White House " and to honor his grandmother, who died Sunday at her home there.

___

Liz Sidoti reported from Washington. Associated Press Special Correspondent David Espo and AP reporter Jim Kuhnhenn in Washington and Beth Fouhy in Chicago contributed to this report.

Paul Volker was the guy who raised interest rates to even 22% in the 80's. If chosen I hope he doesn't do it again.

I hope they bypass Volker.