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SNIP [" ... he (Obama) can be blackmailed internally and externally.]This cabinet, for example, is a shock. Robert Gates? What’s to say that the defense people didn’t sit down and say something along the lines of “play ball or else?” I don’t know for sure, nobody but those in the room knows for sure, but you can’t tell me that people aren’t aware of this. This cabinet really isn’t a cabinet of change. What’s to say that what we’re seeing is not internal blackmail? Obama has been vetted, people have found out the truth, and this is what could be...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President-elect Barack Obama, starting his new life in Washington, faced Sunday the first major embarrassment over his cabinet lineup as his choice for commerce secretary was forced to pull out. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson said he was withdrawing his name from contention for the economic job owing to an investigation into a financial company doing business with his state. Richardson's withdrawal came as Obama left Chicago to join his family in Washington and begin the final countdown before his inauguration as president on January 20. After winning plaudits for a smooth transition process thus far, Obama...

The claim is that an investigation into a company doing business with the state has complicated his appointment. He claims he has done nothing wrong. Of course he does.

Some members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) are disappointed President-elect Obama did not appoint more African-Americans to his Cabinet. Obama tapped four blacks for Cabinet posts, including Eric Holder. If confirmed, Holder will be the first African-American attorney general. But Obama passed over black candidates in selecting Cabinet nominees for positions central to setting policy for urban America, such as the departments of Education, Labor, and Housing and Urban Development. Hispanic Americans, by contrast, have been nominated for three Cabinet positions, and politicians from that constituency have hailed Obama’s nominations. “Did the African-American community probably expect more appointees at...

Barack Obama has wholeheartedly embraced experience in choosing his Cabinet. That may seem at odds with the president-elect's campaign theme of "change we can believe in." But some Democratic activists and nonpartisan analysts say it makes sense, given the dire economy and public anxiety. Obama has tapped senators and representatives, governors and veteran bureaucrats to help him confront the challenges of two wars, a crippled financial system and a deepening recession. "In uncertain times, Americans find it much more comforting that the people who are going to be advising the president are steeped in experience," said Rutgers University political scientist...

"The amen corner has led the applause for Mr. Obama's appointments, one by one. Each is a genius, an inspired choice, a pick for the ages, possibly the greatest public servant in history. Maybe it's time to watch more closely. The president-elect has chosen his science, energy and environmental chiefs, and a sense of unease begins to erupt. It appears that Mr. Obama has consumed the global-warming Kool-Aid, and asked for seconds. Still, the mainstream media is in applause mode. After all, these people have letters after their names. But John Tierney, one of the few cautious dissidents writing opinion...

According to the Obama-mania press, Obama is surrounding himself with a bi-partisan cabinet full of intellectual giants with a hundred years in collective expertise unlike any other in human history. What cabinet selections are they looking at? The selections I'm looking at seem more like a third Clinton administration full of the same old Clinton cronies from the 1990s, plus a few token political hacks that made the election of the most unlikely leader in U.S. history possible. Political debts are often repaid by way of political appointments and Democrats have clearly mastered the art. But what does this mean...

Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) is in discussions with the Obama administration to take a Cabinet-level post — most likely secretary of the Department of Transportation, according to knowledgeable GOP sources. When reached on his cell phone, LaHood said only that Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), President-elect Obama’s incoming chief of staff, had contacted him last night. He would not discuss the details of the conversation. “It’s probably not a good idea to discuss this at this moment,” LaHood said. But one GOP source said that LaHood was engaged in talks with Emanuel about the Transportation secretary position, and the Obama transition...

Day by day, name by name, President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet is taking shape, and other top jobs are being filled. Here's a look at who has made the list and who is being talked about for jobs that are still open: Nominations Announced Treasury Secretary: Timothy Geithner, president of Federal Reserve Bank of New York Secretary of State: Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. Attorney General: Eric Holder, former deputy attorney general Defense Secretary: Robert Gates, a holdover from Bush administration Homeland Security Secretary: Gov. Janet Napolitano, D-Ariz. National Security Adviser: Retired Marine Gen. James Jones Commerce Secretary: Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M....

Were conservatives wrong about Barack Obama? I know, I know. It is way too early to begin to assess Obama's administration and its policies. After all, the man does not really even have an administration yet and won't for over a month. Still, many conservatives are scratching their heads. Is Obama more moderate than we thought? Despite his liberal voting record, there were hints that Obama might not be as liberal as many conservatives feared. For instance, in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos in May 2007, Obama conceded that his daughters should probably not benefit from affirmative action policies...

Looks like Chris Matthews is actually disappointed in Barack Obama, but only in the sense that he's worried Obama isn't moving to the left fast enough. Throughout Monday night's "Hardball," after reciting recent appointments like Robert Gates, Jim Jones and yes even Hillary Clinton, Matthews repeatedly asked his guests questions like: "What happened to the victory of change, and I hate to use the phrase, the Left? Who won this election?" and "Why do we have no lefties in this cabinet?" Matthews even invited on two "lefties," Tim Carpenter of Progressive Democrats of America and David Corn of The Nation,...

There’s a great invention they have these days in schools: Interim report cards. Intended to provide an opportunity for intervention, interims in our case serve mostly as a heads-up to start saving the money for the usual bribes for A’s, which is all kids seem to get anymore anyway. Seems like, as the bottom falls out of the economy, grades are the only place we need to worry about inflation these days. I mean, who ever heard of a 4.3 on a 4.0 scale? At least in Lake Woebegone, all the children were only above average. In our schools, large...

If John Kerry was hoping to be part of President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet, he'll almost certainly have to settle for the consolation prize: a powerful chairmanship in the U.S. Senate. The Massachusetts senator, who endorsed Obama early in the presidential campaign, was left out of the mix Monday when the president-elect announced his national security team, giving shape to two-thirds of his cabinet. Kerry -- who ran for president in 2004 and lost by 34 electoral votes -- made Obama the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention that year, helping make Obama, who was running for Senate in Illinois,...

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson will be named President-elect Barack Obama's Commerce Secretary at a Chicago press conference tomorrow. Richardson will become the first Hispanic named to Obama's cabinet. It will be Richardson's third go round in a presidential cabinet. The 61-year old was both United Nations ambassador and Energy Secretary during the Clinton administration.

So far, President-elect Obama is looking pretty good. His finance advisers could have been picked by Mr. McCain. They can hardly do worse than Dirty Hank and the downhill gang.I really like his foreign policy team. Retired USMC General James Jones is an excellent selection for National Security Advisor. I was so sure he'd pick some lefty civilian pointy head for that job. And Hillary heading up state. If you were Putin, Chavez or even our friend Merkel, how would you like staring that woman down? Scary thought, isn't it? Plus, her foreign policy has never been liberal; it has...

This just caught my eye, and though I’ll take whatever little politically incorrect hits may come my way for elevating it further, my comments are really meant as a defense of short people. More . . .

President-elect Barack Obama stands with his national security team nominees Eric Holder (Attorney General), Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano (Homeland Security), Robert Gates (continuing as Secretary of Defense) and Vice President-elect Joe Biden during a news conference in Chicago, December 1, 2008 Vice President-elect Joe Biden congratulates Defense Secretary Robert Gates as President-elect Barack Obama, not pictured, speaks at a news conference in Chicago, Monday, Dec. 1, 2008. Homeland Security Secretary-designate, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano; Defense Secretary Robert Gates; Vice President-elect Joe Biden; Secretary of State-designate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.; National Security Adviser-designate Ret. Marine Gen. James Jones; United Nations...

Neither President-elect Barack Obama nor Secretary of State-select Hillary Clinton ended up taking a knee on the political field today. With him naming her the country’s top diplomat, they went from opposing sides to one team -- his, with her firmly by his side. His decision to place his fiercest rival beside

OBAMA ANNOUNCING NAMES FOR HIS CABINET LIVE ON THE RADIO NOW. HILLARY SPEAKING FIRST AND ANNOUNCING HER DEPARTURE FROM THE SENATE

The chasm between those who want President-elect Barack Obama to produce his birth certificate to verify his eligibility to hold the nation's highest office and those who simply support the Democrat is widening. "The Constitution means what we today decide it means," opined one participant on a new WND forum that offers readers an opportunity to express their opinion on the birth certificate dispute.

One wants to ask the Wall Street wizards who comprise the talent pool for the incoming administration, "If you so smart, how come you ain't rich no more?" [snip] Shares of Citibank, the current firm of Bill Clinton's treasury secretary Robert Rubin, last week traded at less than a tenth of their year-earlier market price and may require yet another federal bailout. [Citigroup will have more than $300 billion of troubled mortgages and other assets guaranteed by the US government under a federal plan to stabilize the lender after its stock fell 60% last week, Bloomberg reported today, November 24....

As President-elect Barack Obama quickly selects officials for his administration, attention is starting to turn to the potential obstacles they face in Senate confirmation hearings. The Associated Press, citing a Democratic source, reports that John Podesta, a leader of Obama's transition team, had told Senate aides on Friday that Obama hoped for a speedy confirmation so the new administration could get to work quickly thereafter. But past controversies involving some of his picks could make for bloody hearings. The latest list of Obama's expected Cabinet selections includes Hillary Clinton for secretary of state, Timothy Geithner as his Treasury secretary, Eric...

For more than a year the American people have been tortured, ad nauseum, with the Obama campaign theme, “Change We Can Believe In.” Republicans... and a few curious Democrats... have asked to be enlightened on the exact meaning of that theme, but to no avail. Their inquiries have been met either with stony silence or meaningless platitudes... most equating to whatever is the anti-Bush theme of the day in Democratic circles. But now that Obama is the presumptive president-elect we’ll very soon get to see exactly what he meant. (Obama will not be the president-elect until sometime around noon EST,...

NBC News is certainly demonstrating they are likely to have the best sources inside the Obama Administration. NBC says they have confirmed that Obama will announce his new economic team on Monday: Tim Geithner as Secretary of the Treasury, and Gov. Bill Richardson as Secretary of Commerce. The video report above lays out the details. . . . . . (Watch Video)

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama plans to nominate Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state after Thanksgiving, a new milestone for the former first lady and a convergence of two political forces who fought hard for the presidency.

Up until Barack Obama’s victory, much of America – and the rest of the world – was deeply in love with the idea of being in love. The problem with any such relationship is always that, one day, the spell wears off, and you start getting annoyed at little things like your soulmate (in this case, Barack Obama – America’s soulmate) leaving the toilet seat up. Some media people won’t care – they’ll blame George W. Bush for having used the same bathroom months earlier. Others, like the mainstream media, will fall into Obama’s toilet and splash around like it’s...

Little did we know that “Change we can believe in” really meant “Change that will delight the Right and freak out the Left.” But if the rumors and hints about President-elect Barack Obama’s cabinet picks are any clue, it may be that both conservatives and liberals had Barack Obama pegged wrong. If several months ago someone had said that the Obama administration would be chocked full of Clinton administration retreads and have a national security team featuring the woman who advocated bombing Iran to smithereens in the event it launched a nuclear attack on Israel, few would have believed it....

DailyKos and DemocraticUndergroud types are starting to get a bit miffed at their messiah. So far, no one from their ranks has been given the nod to take a spot on Obama's staff or to fill his cabinet openings. The "progressives" are noticing, too, that far from bringing a "new" wave of politics to Washington, so far Obama is bringing back the age of Clinton. Instead of Washington becoming Obamopolis, it is a re-birthed Clintonville that is rising like a phoenix from the ashes. It is certainly too early to claim that Barack Obama is going to be a...

The offer to Daschle of the H&HS cabinet post began with Daschle's endorsement in February 2007. It is also consistent with Obama's short-lived PAC which states that, "That is why Senator Obama formed Hopefund ... to elect Democrats."

President-elect Barack Obama has decided to tap Eric Holder, a Washington lawyer who served as the No. 2 official in the Clinton Justice Department, as his next attorney general.

CAPITAL JOURNAL NOVEMBER 18, 2008 GOP Choices for an Obama Cabinet By GERALD F. SEIB Bipartisanship is like a hole-in-one in golf, often discussed yet rarely achieved. For President-elect Barack Obama, who has promoted the idea more than most, the quest to find some bipartisanship is only beginning. It started with a meeting he held Monday with his vanquished Republican rival, Sen. John McCain.

POSTED BY ED MORRISSEY Barack Obama has selected Gregory Craig as White House counsel, a move that will recall some controversial legal cases over the last few years. Craig has plenty of experience in politics as well as the courtroom, having served as Bill Clinton’s legal counsel during the impeachment hearings. Craig flipped from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama early in the primaries, and Obama has repaid his support — but Craig’s caseload will raise a few eyebrows: Gregory B. Craig, a well-known Washington lawyer who quarterbacked President Bill Clinton’s impeachment defense, has been chosen White House counsel by President-elect...

By CHRIS FRATES on Politico.com One of the leading members of President-elect Barack Obama’s Health and Human Services transition team was an anti-tobacco lobbyist as recently as September, a position that would appear to break a transition team rule that prevents lobbyists from serving in policy areas they have worked to influence within the past year. But in an example of how the tough-sounding rules can provide Obama plenty of wiggle room, the campaign explained how the lobbyist’s work didn’t violate the restrictions. Bill Corr, executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, unsuccessfully pushed Congress to give the Food...

Last week I reported that Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., was in the running to become Obama's secretary of state. Today we learned that the President-elect and his former rival met privately yesterday to discuss the position. This afternoon I asked California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger what he thought of a possible Secretary Clinton. "I think she is a very very bright woman and very experienced. I think this could be a great move." But he also said that it's equally important for the president to have a good working relationship with all the members of his cabinet. "When it comes to...

Here is video of a discussion historian Doris Kearns Goodwin had with NBC's David Gregory about what may be President-elect Barack Obama's model for assembling a Cabinet. Goodwin wrote a book called "Team of Rivals," which details how President Abraham Lincoln brought some of his fiercest rivals and opponents into his Cabinet to govern with him. Obama has actually cited Goodwin's book, and Lincoln's example. The talk of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, and Obama's meeting scheduled for Monday with Sen.John McCain is fueling speculation that he may be trying to assemble such a governing team. . . ....

President-Elect Tries To Weed Out Controversial Candidates Applicants for President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet get ready to chronicle your life story. Those interested in joining Obama's administration have to pass an extensive background test. The questionnaire, the New York Times reported, includes 63 requests for personal and professional records, some covering applicants’ spouses and grown children as well, that are forcing job-seekers to rummage from basements to attics, in shoe boxes, diaries and computer archives to document both their achievements and missteps, the Times said. Obama wants applicants to “list all aliases or ‘handles’ you have used to communicate on the...

Here is video of soon-to-be White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel talking with CBS News' Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation yesterday. Emanuel discusses the coming cabinet appointments President-elect Obama will make, and what is likely to be the emphasis of the new Obama Administration in the first days after the inauguration. . . . (Watch Video)

Sure, their post-mortem nice-nice might be reflecting a collective silence -- or, given pre-electoral events, a convenient epidemic of amnesia -- over the ascent of the first Catholic VP... but thirty-six hours in, the bench's "nightmare" lurches onward. In its latest development, another altar-railed Democrat has emerged in contention for a key Cabinet slot: Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius... who's already doing the DC side-step.And that's just the half of it. Setting the stage for the US hierarchy's first "Armageddon" with the Obama administration, transition sources have floated two pro-choice Catholics -- Sebelius and former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle...

Or not.. But who’s paying attention anyway? At some point in the near future “The Messiah” will get around to that change the obama-drones have been yearning for. Whatever that fundamental change is.. We dont know. It’s not socialism. No, it can’t be that. It’s that change we can all believe in. Personally, I never thought the day would come when it would be speculated that a Kennedy (or two) would be nominated to Obama’s cabinet. So innovative Barack. Ground breaking. Then there’s his prospective Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel: “Clinton’s going-away gift to Emanuel was a seat on the...

President-elect Obama is weighing an array of Washington insiders and outsiders, including some Republicans, for top administration posts, according to Democratic officials.

New Obama Chief of Staff, Others on Board, Missed "Red Flags" of Alleged Fraud Scheme ___ President-elect Barack Obama's newly appointed chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, served on the board of directors of the federal mortgage firm Freddie Mac at a time when scandal was brewing at the troubled agency and the board failed to spot "red flags," according to government reports reviewed by ABCNews.com. According to a complaint later filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Freddie Mac, known formally as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, misreported profits by billions of dollars in order to deceive investors between...

Here is video of a CBS News report on who Barack Obama may name to the key Cabinet Positions in his administration, including Treasury, State, Defense, and Attorney General. Obama is reportedly considering some Republicans for posts, such as Richard Lugar at State and Robert Gates at Defense. . . . . (Watch Video)

President-elect Barack Obama is strongly considering Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Environmental Protection Agency, a Cabinet post, Democratic officials told Politico. Obama’s transition planners are weighing several other celebrity-level political stars for Cabinet posts, including retired general Colin L. Powell for secretary of Defense or Education, the officials said. RFK Jr.’s cousin, Caroline Kennedy, who helped Obama lead his vice-presidential search, is being considered for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, although some Obama officials doubt she would take it. Obama is indebted to the Kennedy family for a hearty endorsement at a crucial point in the Democratic...

The list is heavy on campaign heavyweights and Washington insiders, many of them from the administration of President Bill Clinton. So while surprises can be expected to crop up — especially on any Republican members of the Cabinet — many of the selections would likely be proven hands who would provoke little controversy. White House chief of staff: Former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.); Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.); or dark horse candidate Bill Daley, commerce secretary under President Bill Clinton and now an executive with JPMorgan Chase & Co. Deputy chief of staff: Pete Rouse, chief of staff in Obama's Senate...

WASHINGTON -- Democratic Sen. Barack Obama has said lobbyists won't run his White House. But senior campaign officials are crafting a policy that would clear the way for lobbyists to nonetheless hold important government roles. People familiar with Sen. Obama's still-evolving hiring policy say registered lobbyists would be banned from senior-level White House jobs. But the policy would allow some lobbyists to take important jobs elsewhere in the administration, should the Illinois senator win election Tuesday. "Our goal is to make sure that people don't leave an industry to come into our administration and then work on issues related to...

If the elite media and their skewed polls are to be believed, Barack Obama will be the 44th president of the United States. If that is the case, let us imagine for a moment what an Obama administration might look like if this radical leftist actually were to follow his heart and appoint people to his cabinet who share his view of the world. Here, then, are some highlights of some key members of Barack Obama's possible dream cabinet (in alphabetical order). Secretary of Agriculture -- U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin would be the logical choice here. Harkin, a far-left Iowa...

The war hero senator who rescued America from accepting humiliating defeat in Iraq -- by having the courage to put his country ahead of his own presidential prospects -- is now himself in need of a rescue. Is it too late for McCain? No. The man who more than anyone else forced the highly successful surge strategy in Iraq just might be able to pull victory from the jaws of defeat once again by adopting a bold surge strategy for his own campaign.

She swilled vodka and visited strip joints to break the glass ceiling, but can businesswoman Carly Fiorina tough it out in politics, asks Nick Mathiason. Poised, smart and ready to serve, Carly Fiorina - at one time the most powerful female executive on the planet - scents power. There's still a chance that the most intense, volatile and bitter presidential election campaign in living memory could spring a stunning final twist, delivering the Republicans to victory. If John McCain triumphs, Fiorina will follow in his slipstream. As a close friend and economic adviser to the Republican candidate, it is a...

I guess it is too early to speculate about McCain's cabinet, but here's a possibility for Secretary of Energy: Michael Williams on Energy security (youtube from Convention)(click on picture for biography)

** EXCERPT ** This is one promise that Senator John McCain might struggle to keep if he does win in November. When asked by Time's Rick Stengel, moderating the 9/11 anniversary forum on national service here at Columbia University in uptown New York city, whether he would give Barack Obama a cabinet job, he responded that he would. "Governor Schwarzenegger has made the service czar a cabinet-level appointment," Stengel said. "Would you, as president, do the same and would you name Senator Obama to your cabinet for National Service?" McCain paused for a beat before replying with a smile: "Yes!"...