The Very Early Days

So it seems that among other things to do online in the wake of Obama's resounding election people are speculating on his probable staff and Cabinet.

So a few quick thoughts on that front:

I hope very much that asking Rahm Emmanuel to serve as Chief of Staff is indicative of tactical decisions and wanting to have someone on board who is notorious for being able to muscle legislation through congress, rather than being indicative of policy and ideological priorities (a desire to govern from the slightly conservative center as in the late Clinton years). A fear of that eventuality was why I was not on the Obama bandwagon in the primaries.

I'm also really really hoping that it turns out to be a vicious rumor that Larry Summers is the front runner for Treasury Secretary. We don't need a redo of Clinton's administration even if they did things much better than W. Plus Summers is an ass, need I remind you of his time at Harvard? And apparently he was pretty complicit in the deregulation mess that got us to where we are. From what I've heard I think Volcker would be a much better pick.

That being said, I'm very excited about how quickly things are moving ahead and I'm jazzed about some of the other rumors floating around. Including RFK Jr for EPA and Caroline Kennedy for UN Ambassador. I think Podesta is a good choice to help head up the trasition team and I was a little disapointed to here that he's not interested in being Energy Secretary but staying at the Center for American Progress is proably the right thing for him to do.

Bonus Note: The Oregon Senate race looks like it's final and another seat for the Democrats.