Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Mac Zilber
Now that the election is over, the most important positions left are going to be filled up via appointments, rather than elections (well, except for Georgia’s senate race, which is going to a December runoff). “Cabinet Watch” articles will track the appointments Barack Obama announces over the next couple of months before his inauguration.
The first appointment that has been announced (well, it hasn’t quite been announced, but it appears to have been leaked) is that house of representatives majority whip Rahm Emmanuel is going to be Barack Obama’s chief of staff. Rahm Emmanuel started off his career as a political advisor, running the finance portion of Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign before then serving as senior advisor to the president for Policy and Strategy. As the current majority whip, Emmanuel obviously knows how to drum up votes in congress, but is also certainly not unfamiliar with being a top white house staffer. He is the highest profile individual to be chosen as white house chief of staff in a long time, and this pick is likely indicative of the fact that Obama’s cabinet is going to be star-studded.
Another indication that the cabinet will be star-studded is that there is discussion that Robert Kennedy jr. may be the head of the EPA. This would certainly bring new prominence to the EPA, as well as bring prominence back to the Kennedy name, and would be another appointment of a Clinton loyalist as well. Once again, the indication is that the cabinet will be star-studded.
In the greatest economic crisis of our lifetimes, it’s good to see that Obama looks like he may be assembling one of the most ambitious cabinets in modern times, because we need all the help we can get.
Check in at the Muse every Wednesday to find who the latest presidential appointments are.
