Home > Coffee House

Tuesday 22 May 2012

Tuesday, 21st October 2008

Obama's Cabinet

Daniel Korski 12:11pm

With an Obama administration almost statistically inevitable, attention is turning to the post-election struggle for positions and power.

His current aides include Gregory Craig, Scott Gration, Ben Rhodes, Richard Danzig, Samantha Power, Tony Lake, and Susan Rice - a team which is said to funnel through Denis McDonough, an Obama confidante, who briefs the senator. But when it comes to populating the administration’s key slots, many of these aides may have to take a back seat in favour of more well-known and politically-connected candidates.

Joe Biden has warned that an Obama administration would face an international challenge in its first six months. Faced with such a prospect – or at least fears of it –the advisable option is for Senator Obama to emulate George W Bush, by flanking himself with national security heavy-weights ready to stare down Iran, deal with Afghanistan, handle Russia, withdraw from Iraq and mollycoddle all the Europeans from day one. But a President Obama will also need an impressive economic team and reform-minded coalition-builders manning such portfolios as health, transport and energy.

Since everyone has been guessing at what an Obama cabinet will look like, it is only appropriate for Coffee House to get in on the game. So here's a more exhaustive list of picks than usually found, with a few additional posts (marked with *) that will require legislative change:

Bill Richardson
Secretary of State

Marc Grossman
Deputy Secretary of State

Chuck Hagel
Secretary of Defence

Michelle Flournoy
Deputy Secretary of Defence

Jim Steinberg
National and Homeland Security Adviser*

Hillary Clinton
Nominee to the Supreme Court

Timothy Geithner
Treasury Secretary

Paul Krugman
Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers

Zbigniew Brezinski
Chairman, President’s Council of Foreign Policy Advisers*

Richard Holbrooke
Director of National Intelligence

John E. McLaughlin
CIA Director

Patrick Fitzgerald
Attorney General

Philip Bobbitt
Deputy Attorney General

General Colin Powell
Secretary of Education

Nancy Birdsall
Secretary for Foreign Assistance*

Max Cleland
Secretary of Veterans Affairs

Arnold Schwarzenegger
Secretary of Environment and Energy*

Harold Ford Jr
Secretary of Health and Human Services

General James L Jones
Middle East Envoy

James Dobbins
Ambassador to NATO

Susan Rice
Ambassador to the UN

Zalmay Khalilzad
Special Presidential Envoy to Central Asia

Carlos Pasqual
Ambassador to the EU

Lael Brainard
Trade Representative

Paddy Ashdown
Nominee for NATO Secretary-General

General David Petraeus
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs

General Pete Chiarelli
CENTCOM

Samantha Power
Human Rights Representative*

Jessica Tuchman Matthews
Secretary for Homeland Security

Norman R. Augustine
Secretary of Commerce

Greg Craig
Chief of Staff

General Karl Eikenberry
NATO Commander

Previous Back to Coffee House Next

Actions: Email to a friend | Permalink | Comments (11) | Subscribe

Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Post comment

Joe Camel

October 21st, 2008 1:12pm Report this comment

Bill Richardson, Chuck Hagel, Zbigniew Brzezinski . . . So we'll have a pretty shrewd guess whose bright idea it was when President Obama proudly announces he has just sold Israel to Ahmadinejad.

CG

October 21st, 2008 1:18pm Report this comment

If Obama wins, and I hope he does, then he should consider keeping Robert Gates as Sec of Defence. He has done a brilliant job since taking over from the calamitous Rumsfield. It's also possible that Richard Lugar could be offered Sec of State. He would be a good choice.

David

October 21st, 2008 1:49pm Report this comment

This can't be right; I'm assured by Melanie Phillips that Obama's cabinet will be composed of Marxist terrorist like Ayers.

marbury

October 21st, 2008 2:29pm Report this comment

No room for Tom Daschle? I think Chief of Staff. And I'm very sceptical of Richardson being picked for Sec State. He is basically a bit of a buffoon and I think Obama will see that. More likely Hagel there, and Gates to continue as Sec Def. As for Hillary to the court? No way, no how. She won't want it. She's pol now, more than ever before.

Tariq

October 21st, 2008 2:34pm Report this comment

Where's Tom Daschle?

Aidan

October 21st, 2008 5:30pm Report this comment

Paddy Ashdown? NATO Secretary-General? Lord save us

Craig Strachan

October 21st, 2008 7:49pm Report this comment

Hillary Clinton would be an excellent choice to fill John Paul Stevens's seat on the Court. Pretty much a straight ideological substitution. Plus she's been "in the club" in the Senate and would have no problem at all getting confirmed. (Although with all the Democratic pick-ups coming in the Senate any Obama nominee will be a shoo-in.)