Wild Speculation: A Massive List Of Possible Green Obama Cabinet Picks

The punditocracy is amusing itself by trading rumors about who Obama might tap to fill key leadership posts. Here are names that have been circulated thus far for environment-related positions. Warning: wild speculation to follow.

EPA Administrator
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., attorney for Riverkeeper and the Natural Resources Defense Council
Mary Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board
Carol Browner, EPA head under President Clinton
Janet Napolitano, governor of Arizona
Kathleen Sebelius, governor of Kansas
Kathleen McGinty, former head of Pennsylvania EPA and or President Clinton's White House Council on Environmental Quality
Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute
Dan Esty, Obama energy adviser and environmental law professor at Yale
Ian Bowles, secretary of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs for the state of Massachusetts
Lisa Renstrom, former president of the Sierra Club
Lisa Jackson, commissioner of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[envirofact]

The absolute worst pick would be the woman from New Jersey. Look at what she did to the environmental protection agency in that state - when censoring scientists didn't work, she eliminated their jobs in retaliation. She was busy making deals with industrial groups but the science was getting in the way of her deals, so she got rid of the entire science program (small as it was).

Obama has promised the scientists at EPA that he will not censor or silence them. This is in writing. If he is serious about this promise, then he cannot in good conscience select Lisa Jackson for any post, but especially not for environmental protection.

[EcoAussie]

Impressive, can't wait to see the result of this one!

[mergina]

Whoever he picks will have to be UNRELENTING in educating the general populace, and demanding, ruthlessly, that corporate America not only get in line but spearhead CHANGE NOW. We do not have much time left.

[zaza]

It'd send an awful message to appoint Robert Kennedy, Jr. to head up the EPA. The fact that Kennedy has chosen to father 6 kids in a vastly overpopulated world should disqualify him out of hand. Anything beyond 2 children per couple, i.e. replacement level, is morally indefensible in a world of rapidly declining resources.

[NotMcCain]

No Rendell.

Definitely No Schwartzenegger (even though it would be nice to get him out of California--he doesn't deserve the Cabinet honor).

[UWNBM]

By Green, you mean lack of experience, I suspect.

[Chip W]

Where's Al Gore?

[UWNBM]

He isn't going to get into this thicket of craziness...

[mergina]

Please do not tie Gore's hands with politics. Politicians will NEVER the be answer to healing our home before it gets very very angry at us.

[ElodieStClair]

Both Kathleen Sebelius and Brian Schweitzer are true stars for the Democratic Party, and they will both be phased out soon as governors as a result of term limits. We need to find positions for both of them in an Obama administration to keep them in the game. More than any two Democrats not named Obama, these two define The 50 State Strategy. They both have red state crossover oozing out of every pore.

We've gotta tend to the party's future.

[UWNBM]

Sibelius has been the darling of the Huffpo bloggers, but she really is quite a bore.

[DC]

The ability to Entertain is not a requirement for the job. She is hugely capable and skilled.

[mergina]

Yes, but are they followers or leaders. We MUST HAVE A LEADER, a brutally efficient LEADER on this.

[azbernie]

when i hear the name, NAPOLITANO, I get shivers up my spine. OBAMA'S new dog would do a better job. not only will it also be able to beg, rollover, but it too can probably ____itself.

[UWNBM]

Oh no you didn't LOL....!

[naschkatze]

I predict he doesn't take any sitting senators. We will need their votes in Congress.

[UWNBM]

Obama is a poltical calculator...and this will sway him.

[repugnicansfearme]

No, don't take our governor from Kansas. She is the only sane politician we have in the capitol.

[ElodieStClair]

Sam Brownback is vacating his Senate seat in 2010. Sebelius, who will be phased out as governor in 2010 on term limits, will pounce on that Senate seat. And no living Kansan can beat her.

If Sebelius wants to run in 2016, balancing out her glowing governor résumé with some time in the Senate will greatly bolster her chances. If she has a shot at being Senator, a low end cabinet post just ain't desirable for her. If she were offered Interior or Energy or some such, she would be best off declining.

[BPCentrisAmerican]

I would like to see Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appointed to new cabinet post to standardize federal elections and clean up election fraud. Voter suppression has been a cause for Kennedy since Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004. I have a better idea Attorney General, like his dad.

[DC]

We have laws on the books for that.

That is what the justice department would do, when doing their job. New cabinet post?? More budget, more people, more growth the federal govenrment? You must be joking. Robert Kennedy, Jr. has not proved himself to be capable at too much other than getting his name in the forefront in recent years. Besides, he worked against the Obama campaign during the primaries as he thought Clinton would win and he was postering for a position in her administration.

[Nan2008]

"GREEN CABINET"...wow, now that's impressive. There's no grass growing under this young man's feet.

[alvdh1]

I nominate Amory Lovins, the founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), to run the Department of Energy or as a new cabinet level position of energy efficiency. He is the energy efficiency guru.

[PineyWoods]

I'm skeptical about the wisdom of appointing Al Gore. If the goal is to raise awareness of serious climate issues, he's your man. If the goal is to work with stakeholders to effectively solve climate issues (i.e., actually get stuff done) ... I wonder if Al is too polarizing. Like it or not, you do have to work with businesses, including some big businesses, to accomplish meaningful solutions. You cannot just go around slapping command-and-control regulations and declaring the problem solved.

I have the same doubts about the wisdom of appointing RFK Jr. I tend to think that the most effective people are those who aren't so polarizing. Is the goal to get things done, or is the goal to say, "Yahoo, look who we appointed, shove it up your butts haters?"

[Nan2008]

Look what Al Gore did for the internet's tubes...

[Eriq]

In reality, these days the right-wing GOP is going to howl and moan about anything and everything Obama's administration does, so in my opinion it matters not a whit that Gore and RFK could be considered polarizing. In the end, the Republicans and right-wing pundits are the sincere polarizing factor. Rahm Emmanuel was an excellent pick, and Obama should rightly allow his tolerance and team-building talent to extend even to the polarizing people in the DNC.
We've all stated our discontent with the GOP polarizing factors, and have voted out their majority. Time for something different. I expect Obama to name some middle-of-the-road GOP people to help him, and am quite sure he will do so.