If DU picked the Cabinet: Who would you choose to save us from this 8 year nightmare?

[blondeatlast]

We know McCain's Cabinet will be chock full of lobbyists, Neocon enablers, and taz-exempt Heritege-Foundationish wonks (second verse, same as the first), but if it were up to us, I bet we could pick a stellar cabinet.

So, advise our new presumptive nominee: who would you choose for the Cabinet (remember that the president can and often does add and do away with Cabinet positions as s/he see fit).

I'd absolutely do away with Secretary of Homeland Security as well as the use of "homeland" in every DC nook and cranny. I'd also eliminate the Office of Drug Control Policy and beef up the FDA with more enforcement powers instead.

So far, I've come up with these:

Secretary of State: Joe Biden
Attorney General: John Dean (Iknow he's a Republican)
Secretary of the Interior: Bruce Babbitt (personally, I'd rather have Al Gore agitating from the outseide and Bruce Babbitt did a great job before)

For a refresher as to the current Cabinet, here's the Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Cabinet

[FSogol]

1. Don't raid the Senate. We need our super majority. n/t

[blondeatlast]

3. That's a good point. I hadn't even considered that. nt

[jmowreader]

89. You can do it in a few cases

A Democratic senator from a state with a Democratic governor is okay to take--you'll get another Democrat to fill the seat.

How about Jon Kyl for something where he can't hurt anything? Ambassador to Ireland, maybe? Ambassador to a friendly nation isn't that hard of a job, and Kyl's a Republican from a state with a Democratic governor. In fact, we can come up with a long list of countries that need hard-working (well, hard-drinking anyway--isn't that hard work?) Republican ambassadors who come from states with Democrats in the governor's mansion. Senator Burr of North Carolina (even if Beverly Purdue doesn't win election, which isn't likely) should be named Ambassador to the Netherlands. I figure they can take him out the first night he's there and get him about five grams of good weed, and it will fix all of his deep-seated problems.

[lonestarnot]

2. No way Dean for Attorney General! NO WAY! John Edwards!

[blondeatlast]

6. Maybe Edwards for Housing and Urban Development or HEW or Labor or ....

There's definitely a spot for him--good thinking, but I still like my own AG pick.

[LakeSamish706]

15. John Edwards for AG without a doubt... He would rock in that position. n/t

[defendandprotect]

36. If not Edwards for AG, then RFK, Jr. ----

[Retrograde]

72. Beg to disagree

the Justice Dept., thanks largely to Gonzalez, is a mess. It's going to need someone intelligent and persistent, with some organizational background, to clean it up. Someone who doesn't know when to quit. I want Ms Clinton here.

Put Edwards on the Supreme Court: he has plenty of trial experience.

[lonestarnot]

26. You've been in AZ tooooooooooo long! LOL

Peace.

[karynnj]

68. Hard Call - the question is where his interest currently lies

There are many Edwards people here who know far more of what things he is most interested in and what his interests are.

Although he ran against corporate abuses, he was never a prosecutor or judge, nor was he credited with any Senate investigations. That does not mean that he can't be attorney general. I wonder though if his interests might now be on the poverty related issues. (Note - this is not meant as a criticism. I thing the attorney general needs a good person who is incorruptible and who could run the justice department, but I think that for edwards, it may no longer be his main interest.

I don't think he was interested in the housing issue when he was in the Senate. I know he was not one of the co-sponsors of the bill that would have set up a trust fund for affordable housing - though he voted for it. It has been re-introduced and passed the Senate Banking committee 19-2 last month. The comparable house bill was sponsored by Barney Frank, who might make an excellent HUD Secretary. (Kerry was the Senate sponsor).

I don't see HEW because he has made it a point that he disagrees with Obama on healthcare. Unless he were willing to follow the President - this could be unworkable.

I like the idea of Labor because he has been a strong advocate for labor unions and I think that he would work hard and creatively to find ways to insure workers' rights and needs in the changing world.

[AnneD]

23. He's my top pick for AG too...

Secretary of State....Joe Wilson-Valerie Plames Husband faced down SH and got Americans out before the start of Gulf War I. Phenomenal guy.

Secretary of Treasury...Jack Hough. Writes for Smart Money and a real sharp guy-or Paul Volker.

Secretary of Labour....a real Labour advocate not a business advocate. Someone from the California Nurses Union.

Secretary of Education....There are many good smart teacher out there. I recommend my principal. Years in the classroom, great with a budget, loved by her staff, can handle parents.

Veterans Affairs...Rick Noreiga. A local Texas rep that was called away during several Texas sessions. His wife covered for him and between them both and really tried to facilitate and streamline all the services for returning vets. He has good ideas. Or Duckworth (I think that is her name-ran for Senate-I love Webb, but he is to valuable where he is).

Secretary of Agriculture....the Senator from Montana (?) with the crew cut. Or John Hightower of Texas.

Secretary of Defense....any of the Generals that had the balls to stand up to Bush at the start of the Iraq war and lost their rank etc for it.

Basically, I want people with integrity and guts in office, I am tired of pocket lining cronies.

[Dogtown]

50. I really like Max Cleland

for Defense, although he would be awesome in almost any cabinet post. Veteran Affairs, for example.

[AnneD]

52. I like him too...

we have so many great vets to chose from, but I would like a woman vet....women's health issuses have been short changed and dismissed. They need to be front and center-and the best way to send a message is to have a woman in charge. To many unprosecuted rapes and women soldiers needing care going on in Iraq. One of the leading causes of death for a while for women in Iraq is dehydration, because they don't want to go to the RR after dark....Now what kind of bull shit is that. If women are going to serve-issues need to be addressed.
Get where I'm coming from.

I'd love to have some good moderate GOP in there too- Lowell Wicker, Snow. These folks showed more spine than many DEM's.

[Dogtown]

57. Apsitively!

I'm not terribly familiar with the pool of candidates, but I agree that there are many qualified female veterans, and certainly agree with your reasoning. Women deserve the possibility of serving in our military and they absolutely should not be treated disrespectfully much less endangered by our own troops.

Thanks for that perspective, your logic is impeccable. Do you have a candidate in mind?

I was raised by a feminist in the 50's, and I consider myself a feminist.

I believe Cleland's best use would be State or even VP (although I do hope that rumors are true regarding this position); he's every bit the statesman and an incredibly honorable man. Unfortunately he is probably not as well known nationally as I'd like.

[a la izquierda]

75. Two words: Tammy Duckworth

[leftynyc]

63. I like Patrick Fitzgerald for that

Although Edwards is a good choice also.

[jmowreader]

87. Quick question for the "Edwards for AG" supporters

Why put a civil torts guy in a prosecutorial position? Put Edwards in a very high civil litigation slot--assistant AG for human rights, lead counsel at the CPSC, something like that--and appoint a prosecutor as AG.

I had a VERY entertaining thought: Vincent Bugliosi, famous prosecutor and author of the book "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder."

http://www.amazon.com/Prosecution-George-W-Bush-Murder/...

Bugliosi has a 105-1 win-loss record in felony jury trials, including a 21-0 murder conviction rate. If you feel, as I do, that the last exhibit in the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Ministry of Truth should be about Shrub's execution, preferably by firing squad, you can't beat a 105-1 record.

[onehandle]

4. Total fantasy. Corporations will continue to write our laws and design our government.

If you are thinking pie in the sky then you might as well visualize President Kucinich.

[blondeatlast]

9. This isn't for real--have they EVER paid any attention to DU? nt

[Dogtown]

59. But a fun game

We all deserve a little escape fiction now and then.
Don't be a spoilsport!

[WCGreen]

5. John Edwards for AG....

Biden for SOS.

[Supersedeas]

24. John Edwards for AG

[lonestarnot]

27. John EDWARDS for AG!

[WCGreen]

49. That would scare the shit out of corporate America....

It's about time one of our own took up office in the Department of Justice.

[rateyes]

7. I like all those picks. And, John Dean isn't a Republican.

John Edwards would make a great AG, as well. So would Patrick Fitzgerald.

Secretary of Defense: Wesley Clark

[SteppingRazor]

8. There was a thread on this a couple weeks ago. I managed to fill every slot:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...


And I did it by poaching only one Senator and one, or possibly two, Representatives.

[blondeatlast]

10. That is AWESOME, but I still like Dean for AG. But a GREAT executive branch indeed,

with a very strong chance to keep the supermajority.

FWIW, that thread came up during a self-imposed exile from DU!

[dysfunctional press]

76. wes clark is ineligble to be sec def..he hasn't been out 10 years yet.

otherwise- he'd be my choice too. he might make a good choice for vp, though...and then give richardson hud or energy

how about jim webb for secretary of defense?

[SteppingRazor]

83. Excellent point, and one I'd totally forgotten.

He won't be eligible until May 2, 2010. I think he would make a pretty good VP choice, though I don't know who fills the Def. gap.

[Wiley50]

11. It took a medicine cabinet and a liquor cabinet to get me through the last 8 years

But I agree with Carter about HRC as VP. worst move ever bad as Liarman was

I'll take Edwards and if not make him AG

We need a green Commerce, energy and Ag secs

Defense needs someone who'll clean house

[sharesunited]

12. Former Senator Bob Graham for Secretary of Agriculture.

This is an area which he is truly interested in.

[arcadian]

13. Micheal Moore / HHS

RFK Jr. at Interior or EPA

[blondeatlast]

14. I'll move Babbitt to EPA and give Interior to RFK, Jr. Good thinking. nt

[AnneD]

54. RFK Jr as interior.....

sweet!

[bryant69]

16. I don't know about eliminating the department of homeland security

While I absolutely believe it has been ineffective and used poorly by the Bush Administration, there is some value to having an information werehouse to collate information from our various intelligence agencies.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[blondeatlast]

17. Can the name at least be changed? You have a point, but the name has GOT to go.

I never want to hear that word again, ever.

[dbonds]

19. At least change the name to something less nazi-like.

[lonestarnot]

29. You Would like that wouldn't you. Homelander Peeee U!

[bryant69]

55. Not sure what you are referring to here n/t

[defendandprotect]

39. It's been turned into a Nazi-organization with great powers to control public ---

It has to be returned to simply a rescue organization ---

and from the looks of the "weather" we're going to need a lot of that --- !!!

We could all be "Katrina'ed" ---

[Dogtown]

61. Bry, I see your point

But an all-powerful super-copshop is the last thing this country needs.

Look at how the FBI was politicized by Hoover, or the CIA by bush I.

In fact, we need to make it impossible for a spook to serve as an elected official; why should we elect a professional liar?

[jmowreader]

79. Ummm...that's what the CIA does

Or, at least, part of what the CIA does.

[FloridaJudy]

18. Edwards AG

Richardson SOS
Clinton HHS (yeah, I'll be forgiving when she learns how to be gracious)

I'd definitely get rid of Homeland Security (the very name gives me the chills), and set up some department for Science and Research. I think Gore would be an excellent choice to head that.

[PATRICK]

20. Don't think about

well known stars. A good ruthless DA can do the job in the Justice department and likewise diligent reformers everywhere. It is about dogged hard work in the cleanup and not simply shining like a star. In fact the star quality(Edwards, Gore) might be better outside the flood of work in the top positions as well as keeping them free for their best work.

I'd say trust the Obama people. There might be a necessity for Clinton era returnees who know the mess by experience. There will be grumblings about that I am sure. To achieve change you can't do a Jesse Ventura on the government so it is likely to raise various alarms along the way. Don't empty the Senate too much.
Don't use people for the sake of names or appearances. Avoid cliques of power coalescing by keeping them damn busy as they should be.

[hootinholler]

21. Ok, the two most important positions right now are State and AG

Jimmy Carter as Sec of State
John Edwards as AG

I have to think more on the others.

-Hoot

[lonestarnot]

30. Love it! Yes! Edwards AG! Carter Secretary of State! Yes!

[NewJeffCT]

22. My choices

First SCotUS nominee: _______________ (no clue)

Sec. of State: Wes Clark or Bill Richardson
Attorney General: John Edwards
Sec. of Defense: Chuck Hagel or Colin Powell
Sec. of Labor: Dick Gephardt
Sec. of Treasury: the guy from Clinton, but I think he might pick Goolsbee.

I need to step back a minute and look a bit more, as I realized my choices are almost all white males.

I also want people like Dodd & Biden to remain in the Senate, so I'm avoiding senators where possible.

[lonestarnot]

28. Boooooo! Secretary of Defense Powell! Haven't you had enough yet?

Acckety ACK

[NewJeffCT]

31. He'll pick a Republican somewhere

And, Powell has expressed admiration for Obama, if I'm not mistaken.

[defendandprotect]

41. Picking any REPUG will always be a mistake and Obama shouldn't do it ---

[NewJeffCT]

43. Even Bush did it

and, with Obama's promise of unity and his expressed admiration for Lincoln, who picked a cabinet full of political opponents, I would be more surprised if Obama did not pick at least one Republican.

[lonestarnot]

45. Piglicon lovers are not going to have their way, sorry to disappoint you.

[NewJeffCT]

47. They wouldn't be my choices

if I was picking the cabinet...but I'm not.

I was speculating on likely possibilities, and I can guarantee you that there will be at least one Republican in the cabinet, and likely too many DLC types for DU's tastes (any more than 1 is too many, and any at all is too many to most DUers)

[lonestarnot]

48. So, you responded to the OP with some pug choices that weren't yours? ah ah ha ha ha

what bullshit!

[NewJeffCT]

32. A few more names from me:

Homeland Security: Bob Graham

Health & Human Services: Elizabeth Edwards (thanks to SteppingRazor above for that one)

Veterans Affairs: Max Cleland

[defendandprotect]

35. Wonderful . . . !!!

[defendandprotect]

40. You're recommending GOP members . . . ?? Hagel/Powell . . .

I think you should study Powell's history ---
including his current history with this fascist Bushco regime -- !!! ???

Nor do we want to move Gephardt back into government ---
he's Repug lite --

[NewJeffCT]

44. Better Hagel or Powell as SecDef

than as VP, where they have been speculated.

and yes, I know about Powell's history.

[lonestarnot]

46. How bout has turd will travel for flea catcher?

[defendandprotect]

65. Then why would you support them for anything --- ????

[NewJeffCT]

73. ok then

If you know Obama will name a prominent Republican to an important cabinet post, who would you pick? Condi Rice? John McCain? Alberto Gonzales?

I don't think so.

Hagel at least has been an outspoken critic of the Iraq war, and his far right positions on social issues won't come into play as Sec. of Defense. Powell is moderate and shown admiration for Obama and seems to regret lying to the UN.

[AnneD]

71. I noticed the same thing......

there are many deserving candidates of all races colours and creed-even some good moderate GOP's that were cut from their party.

[Canuckistanian]

25. Ralph Nader for Secretary of Commerce

[Dogtown]

62. Canuckistanian!!!

Shame on you!!

[Canuckistanian]

66. I'm ashamed.

[MrCoffee]

33. Edwards for Labor!

John Edwards would kick so much ass as Labor Secretary. He'd make Sec. Reich look bad, which is saying quite a lot.

[AnneD]

53. No...AG

he needs to prosecute some serious ass-and he would be great at it. Let his prosecute these corp. thugs that are trying to steal pensions and fleece stock holders.

[defendandprotect]

34. What usually happens is the elite move in/the money men . . ..

I'm not that familiar with anyone outside of Senate/House ---
and I'd like to see Eleanor Holmes Norton move up in government ---

I'd also like to see it be DLC-free zone ---

[defendandprotect]

37. We need to keep the DLC out of leadership positions . . . !!!!

[Rosemary2205]

38. Rev Wright - Press Secretary.

[blondeatlast]

42. Stephen Colbert: Press Secreatry--this is a FANTASY, gang.

But wouldn't that be something?

[AnneD]

70. What a thought....

but I love him doing the interviewing though. I'd love Bill Moyers.

[Jack Rabbit]

51. Hmmmm . . .

Secretary of State: Bill Richardson
Attorney General: John Edwards
Secretary of Defense: Wes Clark
Chief Economic Advisor: Joseph Stiglitz
Secretary of Health and Human Services: Elizabeth Edwards
First Supreme Court nomination: Laurence Tribe

[Jeanette in FL]

56. Dennis Kucinich - Department of Peace

He was the only one who ever spoke about that during the campaign.

[AnneD]

60. Actually....

Secretary of Treasury would be good.

[AnneD]

58. I have a suggestion...

instead of a Majority Whip...I suggest a Majority Taser

Homeland Security.....FEMA seperate them

Homeland Security or CIA.... her choice-Valerie Plame

Who knows how long we will have but I want to shake it up good. I want a virtual rainbow cabinet!

[CaptJasHook]

64. Here is a Crazy Idea that I fantasize about Sec. of State: Garry Kasparov

One of the smartest on the planet. Loved his interview on Maher.

[taterguy]

67. Pat Schroeder: Secretary of Defense

[AnneD]

69. Jimmy Carter...Housing

why didn't I think of that earlier

[hedgehog]

74. If Jim Webb became Secretary of Defense, there is no way in hell

any US soldier would be sent off to fight unless this country was in real danger.

[OneGrassRoot]

82. Word n/t

[gratuitous]

77. gratuitous for Secretary of Whoopass

The rest of the appointments would be immaterial.

[jmowreader]

78. I'll play. This could be fun.

With amplification, I begin:

Secretary of State: Bill Clinton. The people of the world love and respect Bill Clinton. That's important since the next four years are going to be spent undoing the damage of the last eight.

Secretary of the Treasury: I'm going with Ted Forstmann. There are some problems with him--the serious Republicanism and support for school vouchers are sticking points. But look: I do not want him working on education, and pretty much anyone good in the financial sector is a Repuke anyway--it's almost like it's part of the job description. Forstmann was a Leveraged Buyout man in the 1980s, and he was the biggest opponent of junk bonds--the 1980s version of funny money. He was also almost as profitable without junk as guys like Kravis and Wasserstein were with it. I think Forstmann is probably the best guy to give the job of unfucking the financial system to.

Chairman of the Federal Reserve: Uhh...look, just go into a room full of economists and say the magic incantation, "Henry Hazlitt was a financial GOD!" Pick the man who punches you in the mouth the hardest. (Read "Economics in One Lesson" and you'll understand why.)

Secretary of Defense: Paul Menoher. General Menoher is a retired Military Intelligence flag officer, and he's one of the smartest men in America. I worked for him when he was a colonel. You've seen these guys who fix shit before you knew it was broken, so effortlessly you don't even realize they were working on the problem? That's what General Menoher is like.

Attorney General: Patrick Fitzgerald. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten John Edwards, but I have a better place for him. Lawyers specialize, and Edwards is the Civil Litigation King. That's fine, there's a need for that, but we need a prosecutor as Attorney General due to the extensive number of prosecutions the outgoing administration is going to require. Imagine giving Fitz as much money as Kenneth Starr had, and turning him loose on the Bush bandits...assuming Dipshit doesn't pardon his whole administration including himself the day before he leaves office. Fitz might even RICO the Republican Party out of existence. What a wonderful day THAT would be!

Secretary of the Interior: They tell me some of the biggest environmentalists around are hunters. They understand the need for preserving habitat for all its different uses, the predator/prey balance and just how far out of whack it is, and the requirement for sustainable development. I want an influential, well-known hunter for this task, one who can raise a LOT of money for various causes...so I'm going with Richard Childress. Right now you're scratching your head..."you mean the guy who was Dale Earnhardt's team owner?" Exactly.

Secretary of Agriculture: Let's get us a Real Farmer, 'kay? I'm choosing Brian Schweitzer, governor of Montana. (Sorry, Big Sky residents, but you're gonna have to take one for the team.) BS in International Agronomics, MS in Soil Science, and is the first governor to ever ask the National Governor's Association to delay New Governors' Training classes until after calving season was over. Plus he speaks Arabic fluently and he is against ethanol as fuel. (Biodiesel is a different story--he uses it in his own car.) Did you know the current Secretary of Agriculture got rich making bubble bath? Yup, his family owns the company that makes Mr. Bubble. LOTS of agriculturally-related ingredients in that!

Secretary of Commerce: I was assigned to Fort Drum in 1992. At Fort Drum, every sergeant has to go to an NCO's Welcome Briefing, at which the commanding general and "other guest speakers" come in and wear your ears out. At my briefing, one of the other guest speakers was Mario Cuomo, who was then governor of the State of New York. During the briefing, he spoke at length of all the trade agreements he had brokered between foreign nations and the State of New York. Commerce means trade, and he's good at it, so let's choose Mario Cuomo as Secretary of Commerce. I was thinking a businessman, but the best trade guy out there is Lee Scott...who made "American Jobs" our biggest export during his tenure at Wal-Mart. No thanks.

Secretary of Labor: (shrugging shoulders) The president of just about any large union would be fine. The problem is that the three biggest unions in America are the Service Employees International Union the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. They're all fine unions--that don't have a lick of manufacturing capacity between 'em. A manufacturing guy is critical here--OSHA belongs to the Department of Labor, so we need someone who has a lot of OSHA knowledge. I'm going with Ron Gettelfinger, president of the United Auto Workers. From his bio, Gettelfinger is an outspoken advocate for national single-payer health care that would make health care accessible and affordable for every man, woman and child in the United States. In January 2006, he called for a “Marshall Plan” to renew America’s industrial base through incentives to manufacture energy-saving advanced technology vehicles and their key components in the United States. Under Gettelfinger’s leadership, the UAW has continued its fight for fair trade agreements that include provisions for workers’ rights and environmental provisions; and the union has loudly criticized the corporate global chase for the lowest wage which creates a race to the bottom that no workers, in any country, can win.

Secretary of Health and Human Services: I'm tagging another union president: Cecil Roberts, head of the United Mine Workers. Quit scratching your head: one of the industries the UMWA organizes is healthcare, and they started because mining is so dependent on it. His bio refers to him as "perhaps the most motivational speaker in the labor movement today."

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Here's where John Edwards goes. John Edwards is a scary fucker in a courtroom if you're on the wrong side of him, and that's what's needed at HUD right now.

Secretary of Transportation: I'm not going to pick the head of the Teamsters so stop saying that. I think most DUers can agree that America needs to start rebuilding its rail infrastructure...so let's pick a railroad guy. How about James Young, head of Union Pacific Corporation?

Secretary of Energy: Here's another one you've never heard of: Alicia Izarraraz. She has been in the oil business all her life--refinery design, operations, engineering, and management in both petroleum and petrochemicals facilities before becoming general manager of a Shell refinery in California. She's a trained engineer, and has worked for Arco, BP and Shell. The problem here is that with Schweitzer (a coal advocate) at Agriculture and Izarraraz at Energy, there's no big name in alternative energy...so let's brew up a whole new position and have...

Secretary of Our Brighter Future: This sounds stupid as fuck, but if we don't come up with a weird sounding name how are we ever going to give Al Gore a place to do whatever the hell he wants? I think that's the best way to deal with him: give him a $100 million budget and a staff of fifty spread out around the country, and let him work out of his home in Nashville. He'll do fantastic things we can't even imagine.

Secretary of Education: We need someone to get rid of the fucking No Child Left Untested Act and the Intelligent Design bullshit and go back to actually teaching children. This one I don't know. Is there an Ed.D.-packing school superintendent out there, preferably female, who weighs about 225 and boxes Golden Gloves? I'm lookin' for intimidation here, folks: I want someone with the gravitas and the cred to be able to go before Congress, tell them to stop coming up with this non-workable Neil-Bush-enriching bullshit, and actually cause them to stop coming up with it--not only because they will be convinced that stopping coming up with it is the proper thing to do, but because they think she'll knock them on their fucking asses if they don't. Violence is normally not the proper way to make policy, but in this case we'll make an exception.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs: We have the choice of nine generals: John Fugh, David Brahms, Robert Gard, Lee Gunn, Donald Guter, Joseph Hoar, John Hutson, Richard O'Meara and James Cullen. John Fugh is the first Chinese-American general, and was the first post-WWII officer to study war crimes. The other eight were signatories to the "open letter to pResident Bush" complaining about Shrub's own war crimes.

Secretary of Homeland Security: This one's gonna be fun. You know that funny guy Grover Norquist? The guy who wants to drown the government in a bathtub? For my money there's not a government agency more in need of being drowned in a bathtub than DHS...so I'm going to pick ol' Grover since I figure he's just the man for the job. We'll put Grover Norquist in charge of DHS with a very specific set of marching orders: work yourself out of a job. Take every agency that existed prior to Shrub's reign of terror and put it back exactly as it was; take every new agency and get rid of it. He'll do it with relish. Not only that, but we'll rent Grover a clawfoot bathtub for the final closure ceremony before he goes back to blowing Reagan's corpse: we'll fill that tub with water and he can throw the plaques of the agencies he closed into it. He will Eat That Shit Up.

It's not a cabinet that looks like America, but it's one that has its shit very solidly together.

[mdmc]

80. good work

I can't do better.

[jmowreader]

81. I could have, if I really felt like it at the time

There's not enough women or minorities on it, for one thing. True, these people are top notch at what they do, but most of them are white males. In fact, I don't recall one black face on the whole list.

Secretary of Defense would be a good place for a black man--so long as he's a retired general.

But yeah, except for the abundance of white males, it's a decent list.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

84. You forgot Secretary of Transportation, and there is one

man who would be ideal for the job and who would actually send us in the right direction after generations of kowtowing to the auto industry and the highway lobby: Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon). He's been a tireless advocate for non-automobile transportation (mass transit, intercity rail, cycling) throughout his career. He's also in a safe Democratic district, so his replacement would be 99% certain to be another Dem.

[jmowreader]

86. Very doable...

We could also put Alan Keyes in as Secretary of Homeland Security. After two weeks of that fucking guy, the people will beg us to close the department and save us all the grief.

[maxrandb]

85. I'll play

Secretary of Defense - Wesley Clark

Secretary of State - Sam Nunn

Treasury Secretary - Warren Buffet

National Security Advisor - Joe Biden

Attorney General - John Edwards

Health Care Czar - Hillary Clinton

I created a special cabinet level position for Health Care...not just a "bone"

I like Donna Shalala for Secretary of Education

But I'd like to remind DU that we NEED TO WIN THE WHITE HOUSE FIRST!!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

88. I wouldn't want Sam Nunn anywhere near the Cabinet

1. military hawk--we need someone who is committed to peaceful negotiations and treating other countries with respect
2. founding member of the DLC, and unlike Al Gore, has shown no signs of changing
3. major Reagan enabler
4. pretty old by now