There are rumors that Richard Lugar and Chuck Hagel are seriously being considered for the Secretary of State gig, and Sam Stein reports that Lugar has the inside track (although Lugar has said he's not interested).
One of the biggest challenges the new Secretary of State will face is dealing with whatever replaces the Kyoto agreement. Hagel has a 9% 2008 rating from the League of Conservation Voters. Lugar scores 18%. (PDF) Are they really the best people for the job?
Further, the Bush Administration has been murderous in its policies regarding women's health, choice and reproductive rights around the world. Lugar and Hagel are both rabidly anti-choice.
Women turned out big in this election -- unmarried women in particular voted 70-29 for Obama. I don't imagine Dick Lugar, Chuck Hagel and Larry Summers were exactly what they had in mind when they turned up at the voting booth.
Susan Rice and John Kerry, who would both be excellent, are also in the mix -- and the decision has evidently not yet been made. If we really are intent on cleaning up our image (and our mess) around the world, please let's have someone who represents our best and brightest in such a critical post.
Let's not send some Republican relic who's not on board with the kind of change we need.
Jane Hamsher blogs at firedoglake.com
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Think stonings of women in Somalia and other places in the Middle East. The Secretary of State should have a broader outlook when dealing with other countries as violence takes many forms and has an enormous impact on our planet and its citizens, particularly when it comes to children, women, animals, and the environment. The Secretary of State represents the US on multiple issues that relate to war, but is not limited to war-time activities.
America generously funds AIDS treatment in third world countries, but not the reproductive health choices that would help prevent its spread in the first place. Effective support for women's reproductive health choices would have a huge benefit for the welfare of women, children, and through them, whole societies in the third world.
The world needs America to have policies that would address both these issues, and a secretary of state who believes in them. Neither Hagel nor Lugar appear to be that person; Richardson does, perhaps Kerry, too.
2p worth from the U.K.
As much as I think that either Hagel or Lugar would be a perfect choice to head up the state department, I’m wondering what might prevent the next Secretary of State from also being the next Vice President. Seriously! I mean, think about it...unless there is some sort of constitutional roadblock to such a move, it would be a perfect fit...okay, I’M KIDDING!...sort of...of course, it would be a lot of work for one man, even for an extraordinary statesman like VP-elect Biden.
But, I’m really just hoping that VP Biden will be the final authority in how the administration handles the situation in Iraq insofar as promoting a sustainable political solution that allows for the responsible withdrawal of US forces without leaving a failed state behind. And, last time I checked, Joe Biden is still the only one on the face of the planet who intimately understands what will be required to make this happen and who has developed and honed a comprehensive and viable strategy to do just that.
I am encouraged by all of this. I devoutly hope that Obama will not be a creature of The Left, but will govern from a strong center. And I think he knows what the hell he is doing, too.
We elected him. Now let the man work.
When they become part of a president's cabinet...
They become DEMOCRATS...if the president elect is a democrat.
Read a little history will you?