Barack Obama won an overwhelming electoral college and popular victory. He, more than any other president in recent history, has a clear mandate. More important, he owes his election to no particular individual, no group, no specific constituency, or no ideology. He won the election because he was an overwhelmingly superior candidate who ran an extraordinary campaign.
Now he faces one of the most difficult and challenging environments ever faced by an incoming president. He needs the very best people at his side. He should pick them based entirely on their merits. Only the most qualified individuals should be appointed to the most important positions, without regard to who they supported in the primaries, the amount of money they contributed to the campaign or the constituency they claim to represent. Choosing the best people to get us out of the difficulties we face should be like choosing a heart surgeon or an oncologist.
One of the first tests President-elect Obama will face is his selection of Treasury Secretary and other members of his economic team. If former Harvard president Larry Summers is the best qualified person to get us out of our economic crisis, he should be appointed, regardless of whether he offended some of Obama's constituents by comments he made while President of Harvard. A nation in crisis cannot afford litmus tests based on political correctness or the risk of offending some easily offended constituents.
Nor should the President necessarily seek the kind of precise ethnic, gender or racial balance that some will demand of him. His very election demonstrates that merit selection will produce balance without self conscience efforts to impose quotas, targets or other euphemisms for selections based on criteria other than pure merit, broadly defined.
The same criteria should apply in the filling of other critical cabinet positions such as Secretary of State and Attorney General. These are not rewards for past services performed to the candidate, to the party or even to the country. The people who are appointed to these positions will determine the future of our nation and of the world.
When Fiorello LaGuardia was elected Mayor of New York, he announced to his followers that he was going to be the most ungrateful mayor in history, because he was not going to show gratitude for those who helped elect him. He was the mayor of the whole city and he was going to pick the people best for the whole city. He turned out to be one of the greatest mayors in American history. Barack Obama should show the same type of ingratitude to those who helped him get elected. He is the President of the whole country, indeed the leader of the entire free world. In selecting his team, he should look to future opportunities -- to how he can help solve the critical problems of the nation and the world -- and not to past obligations.
We need a meritocracy in the executive branch after 8 years of ignorance and venality.
Instead, here are my suggestions: Anita Hill, just to piss off Clarence Thomas. Lawrence Tribe, because the Constitution is sacred. Martha Morgan, because she was my con law professor.
But lets be honest here, the media makes the Treas. Secretary job more important than it really is. Whoever Obama picks as his Sec of Treasury, he's not going to be able to do much more than Paulson. To get the economy back on track, Obama needs to have the courage to propose bold plans.
By Bold I mean, massive public works. Every state, every city has a list of approved construction projects that need to be done, the only thing that is lack is money. A President Obama should turn on the cash flow and fund those projects and more. You create thousands of jobs right away in construction. Thousands more will be created in manufacturing that will provide the materials to be used in construction. Tangential business like restaurants will benefit by increased business and will hire more employees. And the ripple effect will continue. Creating jobs is by far the most effective stimulus package.
Secondly, by building infrastructure, you lay the foundation for a "green economy," which is the future.
I just hope that President Obama and the Congress have the courage to think bold.
Homeland Security --- Richard Clarke
Secretary of Defense -- Wes Clark or Jack Reed - YOU DEFINITELY NEED A DEMOCRAT for a change
BOB GATES is great but you need to have your OWN PERSON.
National Security Advisor - General Zinni, Dennis Ross or Susan Rice
Treasury - Robert Rubin if he wants to come back or Timothy Geithner
Secretary of State - a no brainer -- Bill Richardson - this man knows how to negotiate with world leaders - ISN'T That a strong reason for choosing a secretary of state.
Secretary of Energy - Jeff Bingaman or Chuck Hagel
Attorney General - Deval Patrick
Other posts can go for Republicans, Independents, etc.
Ambassador to the UN - Caroline Kennedy
Secretary of Health --- a no brainer - Howard Dean
Not only could this greatly help Israel & the Palestinians if it were accomplished - but would also remove a source of poor relations between the US and the rest of the Arab world.
Like most lawyers, Barack sees things as some type of compromise. Alan sees them as some type of argument you win or you lose. The best experts in every field, to be appointed to Alan's hypothetical cabinet, would be a group of prima donnas with no record of accomplishment, no ability to work together.
Since Alan's meritocray has no engineering "metric of utility", it would be just as disasterous as George Bush's system of patronage. And we all know how well THAT worked out. Heck 'uva job, brown nosie!
You support colonialism.