Barack And His Shadow: Should He Appoint A Shadow Cabinet Now?

The standard operating procedure for a nominee is to let the contenders for say, Secretary of State, fight it out through the general election in a battle to bring the nominee the most votes, the most money, the most positive press and the most assistance. I saw this first hand in 2004 when a constant barrage of contenders tried to outraise and outhelp John Kerry.

At the time, I often brought up, wouldn't it be smart to have a Shadow Cabinet? An unofficial assortment of Democratic leaders that allows a much more direct comparison to the current crop of failures.

For example, take Attorney General -- what would be better than having say, John Edwards out there all day every day taking on Mukasey on the core issues of torture, human rights, etc? I think it would be great. It would also showcase the leadership and ability to assemble a team that Barack needs to show some people who doubt his experience and background is sufficient.

I also believe that if you look at the very successful Clinton presidency what actually drove it and America to great success was the strength of his appointments. Erskine Bowles, (a distant relative in the interest of full disclosure), was Clinton's Chief of Staff for part of Bill Clinton's Presidency. Erskine is an incredibly smart, savvy businessman and leader and his presence in The White House was a benefit to all of us. Same with Robert Rubin at Treasury, Madeline Albright, and many many more.

We can contrast Secretary of State Rice with any number of Democrats who are better, smarter and more sophisticated. I'd take Bill Richardson, Joe Biden, Richard Holbrooke any of them and have them speak all day every day.

How about Secretary of Veterans Affairs? I vote for Max Cleland, think Max would win the discussion on the GI BILL, PTSD Issues and more? Hell yes.

Chime in the comments with your choices. And compare them with their current Republican counterparts. Want to make sure it's John McSame McCain? Get these Democratic leaders out of the shadows and front and center.

Sure, it's different, sure it's unexpected, no they don't have to be binding, but this election is about more than the occupant of the Oval Office, it's about needing a complete leadership change in Washington, and we've got the team.

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Comments

[sharpz111]

i.e. similar to what would experience in the United Kingdom.

The shadow cabinet is a de jure part of the Opposition.

Shadow cabinet members regularly take issue with their counterparts in office.

[BeyondTheBull]

Clinton has been talking about a lot of things "forever", but is known for successes only in her own mind and in the minds of her supporters. She's best at selling Hillary, and very passionate about it.

[burnt]

No... it's too early... but it's close James... very close.

[Allocator2008]

Mike McCurry as Press Secretary.
William Jefferson Clinton as Secretary of State
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin as Vice-President.
William Cohen as Defense Secretary
Andrew Cuomo as HUD Secretary
Maria Bartiromo as Treasury Secratary
Al Gore as Interior.
John Edwards as Labour.
Rupert Murdoch as Commerce.
Sir Richard Dawkins as Education.
Ron Paul as Surgeon General.
Wes Clark as Veterans Affairs.
Bruce Willis as Homeland Security.
Hilary Clinton as Senate Majority Leader
Susan Rice as National Security Advisor
Arnold Schwarznegger as EPA.
John McCain as Ambassador to the Court of St. James

[tds1273]

P: Barack Obama
VP: Kathleen Sebelius

AG: John Edwards

State: Bill Richardson
Defense: Chuck Hagel
Homeland Security: Thad Allen
Veterans Affairs: Paul Rieckhoff

Labor: Dennis Kucinich
Commerce: Olympia Snowe
Treasury: Michael Bloomberg
Interior: Lincoln Chafee

Education: Caroline Kennedy
Healthcare Czar: Elizabeth Edwards
Press: Rachel Maddow

Speaker House: Eleanore Holmes Norton
Sen Maj. Lead: Russ Feingold
McCain's Sen. Seat: Janet Napolitano

[tds1273]

Looking through some other list I like these picks...

Secretary of Energy - Arnold Schwarzenegger (nazardesign)
Secretary of Transportation: Gary Locke (kilv)
Secretary of Veteran Affairs: Max Cleland (kilv)

[ddanaan]

I'm really leery about these lists that take too many high-power senators out of what will be at best a 4-6 person Dem majority (Webb, Hillary, Biden, Dodd, Harkin, Feingold). While some of these would be replaced by another Dem it's not necessarily worth the loss of experience. Now compatible Rep. senators are fair game.

While I like Wesley Clark or Anthony Zinni at Defense, they don't pass the 10 year rule until 2010. (Ex-military officers cannot serve as Defense Secretary until 10 years have passed since active duty) However we'll need someone who knows the ins and outs of the Pentagon to clean up the mess Rumsfield and Bush (Cheney) have made there. The politicization, privatization and religious bias in the military has to stop.

VP Ted Strickland
Sec Defense Chuck Hagel
Treasury or Fed Chris Dodd
Sec. of State Bill Richardson
HHS Hillary Clinton
AG John Edwards
(although these last two could be swapped if they prefer it. I can just see Hillary before the Supreme court, or on it. Scalia would wet his pants. Fitzgerald would be intriguing though.)
Press Sec't Chris Matthews - see how he likes being on the receiving end.
Natiobal Security Samantha Powers

[mcole]

i'm actually loving susan rice fr national security...and mcaskill for secretary of state i think she's fab! make samanthat powers an ambassador or summat, she's way cool.
did anyone else like bob casey on the stump? he was very very cool.
whats hhs?

[MaxMarginal]

Good idea, James.

I don't understand anyone who thinks that Kathleen Sibelius is a good VP pick... someone with even less FP chops than Obama? Let's lose!

[Chachi]

Couldn't agree more. I've commented on several threads about what a horrible VP choice Sebelius would be.

People are commenting on her and supporting her based solely on her biography - that she's a woman governor from a red state. For that accomplishment the pundits keep throwing her name out there and in so doing are giving her positive press. Since she's an unknown and has that distinction of being a Dem that won twice in Kansas nobody really criticizes her. And, the Republican pundits are smart enough to not take her seriously so they're not wasting their time criticizing her either.

And because of that, and because most people are inherently mindless sheep you see a lot of commenters on this site just sheepishly following the conventional wisdom that she would be an interesting pick.

That's such simple minded and naive thinking, however. The last thing Obama needs is an unknown governor who has ZERO military, national security or foreign policy experience. It'll never happen, people.... And, if by some chance it does then I would seriously reconsider my opinion of Obama's judgment.

[tds1273]

Your 'out from under the bridge' concern is funny. This post isn't worth too much time spent on it, but it is not foreign policy Obama needs as VP. SecDefense and SecState cover that. No, the main issue will be the economy; Obama needs a Governor who has succesfully run an actual state.

That is Sebelius. Excluding Richardson(sec.state) Sebelius is the most experience and qualified Dem in the field.

[prejteach2]

I like Powell too............but he has proven to be a political whore. He was silent and stayed his term. because he is likeable, doesn't mean he was honest. He could have spoken out and prevented thousands of lives ruined.

[nazardesign]

Whether now or later, there will have to be a slate. I like (an incomplete list to be sure):

VP: Kathleen Sebelius
Chief of Staff: David Plouffe
Attorney Gen.: John Edwards or Patrick Fitzgerald
State: Bill Richardson
NSA: Susan Rice
Energy: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Defense: Chuck Hagel
Treasury: Michael Bloomberg
HHS: Hillary Clinton, though remaining a Sen. is good, too
HUD: Chris Dodd
Labor: John Edwards, if not AG

[indianadem]

As I was watching all the news yesterday about Scott McClellan, I was wondering who Barack will pick as his press secretary...just as something fun to think about.

David Gregory maybe?
Mika Brizinski? (You can tell what channel I watch!)

Then if he really wanted to be cool....how about Tiki Barber? He's a journalist now you know!!

[BLinCincinnati]

Vice President - Bill Richardson
Secretary of State - Richard Holbrooke
Secretary of the Treasury - Jon Corzine
Secretary of Defense - Colin Powell
Attorney General - John Edwards
Secretary of the Interior - Dave Freudenthal
Secretary of Commerce - Phil Bredesen
Secretary of Health and Human Services - Hillary Clinton
Secretary of Transportation (or Labor) - Ed Rendell
Secretary of Energy - Arnold Schwarzenegger
Secretary of Veterans Affairs - Chuck Hagel
Secretary of Homeland Security - Wesley Clark

[mission419]

only woman is HIllary Clinton (who probably doesn't want it?) In this election particularly there needs to be a search for very qualified women, who don't necessarily need to be stars.

[BeyondTheBull]

You understand. There must be some female power included.

[PuppaX]

It's an interesting idea, but would probably make the possibility of Republicans in the Cabinet very difficult (who is going to sign on to an Obama ticket before the general?), though I guess you don't have to put out a complete cabinet.

I'm going to decline posting many names because they would be mostly based on name recognition and a small sampling of news article I've read.

Three exceptions -

John Edwards as Attorney General

Bill Richardson as Secretary of Energy

and...

Colin Powell as Secretary of Defense or Homeland Security. I think his mea culpa was sincere and generally well-received.

I am a fan of Joe Biden, but I think it would be a terrible mistake to take him out of the Senate.

[Oregran]

I like the general idea of the "Shadow Cabinet," but don't think it should be named anything 'dark' like shadow. I just think the right wingers would play too much with that name.
Perhaps, instead of calling them any kind of cabinet, just call them each a spokesperson for whatever cabinet post they would take on. For instance, Gore could be the Energy spokesperson, Max Cleland could be the Vets spokesperson, Hillary Clinton could be the Health spokesperson. By not labeling it a cabinet, per se, it would not be perceived as binding, thus giving a bit of wiggle room when the actual selections were made. Having each spokesperson regularly speak out on their assigned issue would be a great way to try them out in public before committing.

[tds1273]

Campaign Policy Tour Teams?

Send SecState Richardson and SecDefense Hagel on the road as The foreign policy team.

[WTB]

Imagine Bill Clinton as Secretary of State.

[Dap]

Max is an excellen choice, Richard Holbrooke, I don't think so, really bad choice. Richardson, Biden, Dodd.

While we are at it, I 'm of the mind Senator Russ Feingold sould be on the short list for VP.

[seeker1of2truth]

As much as I admire Senator Feingold, actually to the point of hoping he would run
for Prez, he is a 'truth' speaker in the Senate and I'd hate to see that disappear.

Too many really good congress people on the lists - we need them right where they
are to counteract the obstructionism of the Republicans.