The Obama Cabinet (Adam Teladia)

The Obama Cabinet

November 10, 2008 12:02 AM

With the Presidential election in the United States now over there is a lot of gossip, rumour and speculation about who will be in the Obama Cabinet.

In the United States the Cabinet is made up of the President, Vice President, the White House Chief of Staff and the Secretaries of each of the fifteen executive departments. Amongst others the Cabinet also includes the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the United States Trade Representative and the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Given the current economic climate the main focus seems to be on who will be the Secretary of Treasury, there was some rumour that Henry Paulson may continue in the post to ensure a orderly transition however the main contenders for the post seem to Lawrence Summers and Timothy Geithner others names mentioned as a possible Secretary of Treasury are Jamie Dimon, Jon Corzine and Paul Volcker.

Given that Lawrence Summers and Paul Volcker are amongst the economic advisers Barack Obama met with over the weekend I would that the new Secretary of Treasury will be Lawrence Summers and Paul Volcker. However Lawrence Summers has been embroiled in certain controversies in the past and as The Telegraph reported on Sunday Kim Gandy, the president of the National Organisation of Women is lobbying the Obama camp to pick another candidate.

Jason Furman and Paul Krugman have been suggested as possible Chair of Council of Economic Advisers and Penny Pritzker may take on the Secretary of Commerce post.

To the outside world the post which usually generates most excitement is usually the Secretary of State. Bill Richardson, Chuck Hagel, John Kerry, Richard Lugar and Sam Nunn have been suggested as possibly filling this vacancy. Republicans Chuck Hagel and Richard Lugar have also been suggested as potentially taking over as Secretary of Defence. However there is a lot of speculation that Robert Gates will continue in that role.

Dennis Ross, Greg Craig and Jim Steinberg have been suggested as possible National Security Advisor while Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg and Susan Rice are names that have been mentioned with regard to the UN Ambassador post, while Andy Stern and Richard Gephardt are being mentioned as possible for Secretary of Labour.

It also been suggested that Colin Powell may join the cabinet as Secretary of Education, Janet Napolitano as Attorney General, Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Max Cleland as Secretary of Veterans Affairs and Tom Vlasik as Secretary of Agriculture.

With just over seventy days until inauguration I will be keeping my eye on http://change.gov/ to see who will be filling which vacancies.