He did exactly that with State Department - UN Ambassador Susan Rice was given a cabinet position, essentially giving her equal status and voice as he gave Hillary, to keep Hillary Clinton in check and have her as a scapegoat if anything goes "wrong" or not according to his plan. Same plan with the DoD and DHS and Intelligence appointments. That's also why he likes "czars" who could operate outside of and undermine the authority of cabinet Secretaries.
It makes them not feeling in charge, even of their own departments or fiefdoms, constantly in chaos and needing and dependent on Obama's "favors", like being teacher's pets at the moment.
This is vintage Gasparino: ..... Here's how one top Wall Street exec, who has tried passing along ideas to the Obama team, put it: "Geithner thinks he's in charge, but he has no staff to get anything done. Summers sits there and likes to remind everyone he's in charge - and Volcker, probably the only adult in the room, has his nose out of joint because no one is listening to him." The decision followed more than a month of intense scrutiny of her taxes and multiple interviews. No tax problems or other issues arose during Nazareth's vetting, said the person, who requested anonymity because Geithner's choice of Nazareth was never announced officially. Thanks to all the class warfare produced by his boss, I'm told, Geithner can't find qualified people from Wall Street (the folks who know markets better than anyone else) to help solve the crisis. Instead, one saddened Obama supporter from Wall Street told me, "He's looking at a combination of bureaucrats and academics for these jobs."
Treasury Secretary Geithner's choice for deputy withdraws; department still lacks senior staff - March 5, 2009 Annette Nazareth, a former senior staffer and commissioner with the Securities and Exchange Commission, made "a personal decision" to withdraw from the process, according to a person familiar with her decision.
Half of Bankers Would Quit UK If Bonuses Capped - February 27, 2009
Bank 'Stress-Tests' Could Discourage Many to Lend - February 26, 2009
This is just precious, from Geithner:
Geithner: Bankers to Blame for Loss of Confidence - February 25, 2009
Even "pinko" Jim Cramer has been on Githner's and Obama's case lately:
Blame Geithner for Market Mess - February 23, 2009
Washington Dithers, Dow Drops - February 20, 2009
The Little Tim That Couldn’t - March 2, 2009
And here is a must-read article that shows what's really behind Obama's economic policy. Just like Saul Alinsky was his mentor in radical political methods of operation, this one is a mentor of his and his team's radical economic policies:
Yale’s Tobin Guides Obama From Grave as Friedman Is Eclipsed - February 27, 2009
James Tobin was a recipient of 1981 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Studies. Just a short list of Tobin's students, colleagues and disciples from the article:
Austan Goolsbee (Obama advisor), Ben Bernanke, Paul Krugman (2008 Nobel), Joseph Stiglitz (2001 Nobel), William Brainard, Robert Schiller, Janet Yellin (SF Fed president), James Galbraith (son of John Kenneth Galbraith, a friend of Tobin), Noel Roubini (aka "Dr. Doom"), David Swensen (Yale's investment manager), Richard Levin (Yale's president)...
Anagram for “team of rivals”: Fatal Move, Sir.