Official: Sebelius near top for health post

[Turborama]

Source: AP

By JENNIFER LOVEN, AP White House Correspondent – 56 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius was very near the top of President Barack Obama's list of candidates to head the Health and Human Services Department, a senior administration official said Saturday. The source, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private administration deliberations, said no decision was imminent. But the official added the former Kansas insurance commissioner was rising as Obama considers prospective candidates.

=snip=

The two-term governor remains popular in her state and comes from a strong political family. Her father, John Gilligan, was the governor of Ohio in the early 1970s. She also advised Obama's campaign on how to connect with women, especially after Republicans picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as their vice presidential nominee.

Sebelius was in town last week to give a pair of speeches, one on clean energy jobs and the other at the National Education Association. She also met at the Ritz Carlton hotel with Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett. Sebelius' trip was planned before Daschle bowed out as nominee for HHS secretary as a result of fallout from about $140,000 in back taxes and interest he paid last month.

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen also was on Obama's list to run the nation's massive health programs. Already, though, some advocacy groups were lining up to oppose the Democratic governor. He remains under consideration, the senior official said.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090208/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/h...

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[rurallib]

1. Well at least the Lt. Gov is a Dem in Kansas, unlike Arizona

Man as soon as Napolitano was across the border the repugs went to work on ripping apart her wor in AZ.
No offense to Sebelius, but do they hate Dean that much?

[PhilosopherKing]

2. I want her to run for Senate.

She has a chance to win as Senator from Kansas. Imagine a Democratic Senator from Kansas!

Give Dean HHS. Not only is he right for the job but it would drive the Repubs batshit crazy. They'll wish that Tom Dashle was still around.

[Exen Trik]

7. He would drive them crazy...

And unfortunately that probably is the reason he won't get it

[quidam56]

3. See what is deemed, defended and supported in Tennessee as THE ACCEPTABLE STANDARDS OF HEALTH CARE.

Governor Bredesen would be a horrible pick, especially after my experience with Tennessee's hospital system, health department, consumer affairs and with the governor himself in e-mails. http://www.wisecountyissues.com In East Tennessee, Profit care comes before Patient care.

[CatholicEdHead]

4. Catholic Right should make some noise about this by Monday

they were freaking out over her earlier when she was in consideration for a cabinet post.

[Barbara2423]

5. I thought she wanted to stay in Kansas & help with the fiscal crisis

I want Howard Dean for this post.

[TheDebbieDee]

6. Me too! Dean should have been first choice for HHS, IMO.

I have no clue what's going on between President Obama and Dr. Dean that he didn't get the nod over Daschle in the first place!

[radfringe]

8. hoped they checked her taxes...

and all of her immediate family's taxes

[Mithreal]

9. She's a future President, not someone to head an Obama failure.

I hope I am wrong and I know that people will say President Obama never campaigned on a single payer healthcare system. Anyone who President Obama gives this position to, will fight for lower costs, more choices, and maybe even eliminating pre-existing conditions exceptions, but that is all and it is not enough. The person who heads this and does not pull through universal healthcare is going to be seen as having missed an opportunity, potentially even seen as a failure, if President Obama just nibbles away at the healthcare mess and doesn't fix the root cause. No one should profit from denying someone healthcare. No one should profit on another's suffering. We have profiteers and pirates in our healthcare, I am all for their eradication. They are pestilence and cancer on us all.

[biopowertoday]

13. Well said.

[cornermouse]

10. Kansas needs her.

Dean is footloose and fancy-free. He's a physician who has demonstrated that he could be capable of heading Health and Human Services. What is it going to take for D.C. to wake up and figure this out?

[Spryboy]

11. It should be Howard Dean.

I'd far rather keep Sebelius where she is (and where she's needed), and give the job to Howard Dean, who has earned the job, deserves the job, and would be seriously kick-ass in the job.

[w4rma]

12. Why?! She is desperately needed in Kansas! Don't put her in the Cabinet. (nt)

[onehandle]

14. Pulling her into the cabinet will pull Kansas back to 100% red.

She is an anomaly there. The Lt. Gov. would not be re-elected.

She needs to run for Senate.

[elocs]

15. For those who have cried for Dean to have this position,

can anyone point any place where Dean has expressed any interest in being Secretary of HHS? Has anyone ever considered that he might have been approached and said "no", or is he not allowed to turn down the position?

[jkappy]

16. from 2 days ago in Huffington Post

"Dean's hopes of taking over HHS -- he would, those who know him say, take the job if offered -- is, at this point, not a campaign. The former Vermont Governor has and will remain mum on the notion because, as he himself admitted, the surest way to not be chosen is to actively pine for a post. In progressive circles, however, supporters of Dean insist that he is best suited for the job, having managed health care in Vermont and served as a doctor himself."

In addition, all the snubbing that has gone on makes this position make even more sense.

[nightrain]

17. what expertise and training does Gov Sibelius have in healthcare?

I support Jim McDermott who is a psychiatrist and congressman from WA State and a proponent of SINGLE PAYER for DHHS. Or Dean.

Check out McDermott at--

http://www.house.gov/mcdermott/

[joeybee12]

19. He'd be a good choice, and that's why I don't think Obama will choose him...

...I don't think obama's serious about helthcare reform...first Daschle, now Sibelius and maybe even Bresden. He doesn;t get the importance of this at all.

[nightrain]

20. I sense that Obama does know about the healthcare

fiasco in this country. I recall his retelling how his mother was dying and had to deal with insurance companies during that time. I don't know if he has the guts to challenge the insurance companies and to do what's best--single payer.

I fear he will attempt some more crappy bandaid approach which will only lead to more confusion and despair among the regular people and the providers as we try to negotiate this already horrid conglomeration of companies and their coverages. I speak as a healthcare provider who has to deal with insurance companies on a daily basis. It's a waste of my time, but I have to do it in order to be paid. Insurance companies are in the business of denying care, I've experienced that many a time! It takes away from my time in patient/client care.

[Tutonic]

18. Not gonna happen. She's preppin for Kansas Senate. Obama

knows that. Next.

[Pastiche423]

21. Oh great!

A Bilderberger AND a DLCer instead of a man that w/o his 50 state strategy, Obama most likely would not have won.