OFFICIAL Obama Cabinet/Staff Thread

[HashiriyaS14]

I thought I'd try to confine all of this to one place, as there's going to be tons of news in the upcoming weeks.

Apparently Obama officially extended an offer to Rahm Emanuel for him to be Chief of Staff. No word yet on whether Rahm's taking it, but I suspect he will.

This is good for me, as it will open up Rahm's position of Democratic Caucus Chair to Chris Van Hollen, my Congressman (head of DCCC, took that job from Rahm, hopefully will step up again now).

Also rumors that d!ck Lugar might be SecState or Chuck Hagel might be SecDef. I would support either choice wholehearteldly, not just because of the bipartisan aspect, but because I think they may well be the best men for the jobs.

[heliochrome85]

I am a big fan of both lugar and hagel and would have voted for either one of them. very competent and very well established.

[Cold_Zero]

Rumors are going around about Bill Richardson being Secretary of State. We will see..

[HashiriyaS14]

Rumors are going around about Bill Richardson being Secretary of State. We will see..

TACO BILL!

I've heard Robert F. Kennedy Jr for head of the EPA, which I think would be a good pick.

I've also heard Colin Powell for SecDef or SecEdu, but I think that Hagel would be a smarter pick for SecDef.

Robert Gibbs is now also officially the new WH Press Secretary.

[Eikon]

Eikon, I merged this into the Cabinet/Staff thread to avoid setting a precedent of making a new thread for every appointee

Anyone have any views on Rahm Emanuel?

What does his designation as the cheif of staff do for our country?

Does the choice of Emanuel change any perceptions of Obama?

Personally, I like the fact that Emanuel was a former board member of Freddie Mac. While many critics may say that his tenure there was a bad thing... regardless of what he did there and what direction he took that organization at the time... I think his experience and knowledge of the lending industry will help him help Obama do the right thing.

I'll tread lightly on the next topic... Rahm Emanuel is a member of the Jewish religion and tradition. While that has no part in his politics, what I find interesting is that Obama's first major appointment flies in the face of many conspiracy theorists. A lot of Obama haters like to claim that he's closely tied to Arab interest because he's got a name that is muslim sounding. A lot of right wingers liked to say he might be anti-semetic because he met with Iran and some other countries and has said some things that may not sit well with pro-Israeli factions.

Does Emanuel's religion and ethnic background have any interesting implications?

[hsckris]

Rahm is potentially nuts.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/t...3.ece

At a dinner to celebrate Bill Clinton’s first presidential victory – Mr Emanuel was his chief fundraiser – he began to reel off the names of those who had 'crossed' him. He grabbed a steak knife and began plunging it into the table shouting “Dead! Dead! Dead!” after each name.

[HashiriyaS14]

Rahm is potentially nuts.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/t...3.ece

LOL

Yeah, that's an old story.

He definitely has a flair for the dramatic. He's a fiery guy, which is why I'd rather have him as a political adviser than as a policymaker.

[telcoman]

I'M NOT ALLOWED TO TALK ANYMORE!

http://theboard.blogs.nytimes....gh-in/


Modified by telcoman at 3:05 PM 11/8/2008

[audtatious]

[Jesda]

[SmithSR]

[S13_love]

[hsckris]

[C-Kwik]

[Eikon]

[HashiriyaS14]

I'll just start treating your posts as trolling and delete them.

No, you won't.

Behold my solution.

When telco makes a totally unnecessary and inflammatory comment, I will be editing or deleting it.

That said, to all the conservatives, you need to IGNORE him. If you don't ignore him and you decide to snap back every time, this section is going to go to hell in a hurry. Thus, when you fail to ignore a dumb telco comment, I will be editing your posts as well, and I don't care WHO you are.

[Jesda]

[themadscientist]

I would have to take him seriously for him to annoy me.