On cabinet appointments

by kos [courtesy of Daily Kos]

We're in Day Negative 48 of the Failed Obama Administration, which is pretty incredible given that we're still 48 days away from the Obama Administration existing. Of course, the number of people doing the Chicken Little act are about as numerous as the PUMA brigades that were going to take Obama down.

It's important to remember that the President makes the final call. Cabinet members advise and implement. So George W. Bush launched his administration with a cabinet that included Colin Powell, Tommy Thompson, Norm Mineta (a Democrat), and Ann Veneman (who was floated as a potential veep candidate for Obama). Remember how Powell was supposed to moderate Bush's hawkishness? Instead, he delivered that shameful presentation at the UN knowing it was full of lies. Why? Because the President calls the shots, and he'll ultimately be judged for all of his cabinet's decisions. It ain't Rumsfeld that people blame for Iraq.

So what about the "controversial" picks?

Hillary Clinton at State? One of Obama's tough tasks ahead is to repair the damage Bush did to our relationships around the world. By picking Hillary Clinton, the second-biggest political celebrity in government today, Obama just told the world he takes that task very seriously. He essentially gave them the biggest name he possibly could, double-underscoring his commitment to re-engaging the world as partners, not as missile targets. On purely pragmatic grounds, it was extremely well played. Politically, I see zero downside. The only downside of the pick is the idiot traditional media and their bizarre Clinton fetish. But screw them.

And Gates... Yeah, he's the one that makes me wince, apparently reinforcing the notion that only Republicans can competently handle defense matters. But there are three mitigating factors:

1. It's supposed to be a short-term appointment, a one-year gig to transition seamlessly.
2. Gates has already promised to make closing the Guantanamo prison a high priority. In fact, he has long argued for such a closing.

   March 22 [2007]— In his first weeks as defense secretary, Robert M. Gates repeatedly argued that the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, had become so tainted abroad that legal proceedings at Guantánamo would be viewed as illegitimate, according to senior administration officials. He told President Bush and others that it should be shut down as quickly as possible.

   Mr. Gates’s appeal was an effort to turn Mr. Bush’s publicly stated desire to close Guantánamo into a specific plan for action, the officials said. In particular, Mr. Gates urged that trials of terrorism suspects be moved to the United States, both to make them more credible and because Guantánamo’s continued existence hampered the broader war effort, administration officials said.

   Mr. Gates’s arguments were rejected after Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and some other government lawyers expressed strong objections to moving detainees to the United States, a stance that was backed by the office of Vice President Dick Cheney, administration officials said.

   Since the President makes that final call (or in Bush's case, the Vice-President), Gates was ignored by Bush. But his stance on this critical issue probably helped convince Obama to keep him around to implement its closing. And given the politically sensitive nature of the move, it makes it harder for Republicans to attack the move since it's Bush Secretary of Defense pushing for the closing.

3. Gates is aboard getting our troops out of Iraq. And like #2 above, it becomes easier for Obama to sell the move to various important stakeholders by having Bush's guy plan the withdrawal.

All in all, I would've preferred a Democrat take the helm, but there is a valid rationale for keeping Gates aboard for a short time.

Beyond that, time will judge the wisdom of Obama's choices. I'm not ready to pass judgment now, not when we're still 48 days away from even having a President Obama.