Daschle Accepts HHS Position, Holder to Be Named Top Prosecutor
Healthcare Policy, Politics-US, Vote 2008
President-elect Barack Obama is reported to be filling out his cabinet with prominent and experienced appointees. Some critics are already alleging ther are too many “Washington insiders” getting positions, but the transition team insists there is a new tone being set and these individuals will be ideally positioned to effect key reforms. Former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) has been offered the post of Secretary of Health and Human Services, and has reportedly accepted. Longtime Justice official and Obama aide Eric Holder is expected to get the nomination to serve as attorney general.
Daschle was majority leader for the Democrats, until the Republicans took control in 2002, then minority leader until he lost a re-election bid to John Thune in 2004. He published a book on healthcare and how to fix the system earlier this year, and was one of Barack Obama’s earliest backers, urging him to run for president before the campaign was officially launched. He will now be tasked with shepherding Obama’s healthcare proposals through Congress, where policy differences have already emerged, even within the Democratic majority.
Daschle is another appointment who, if confirmed, will be part of a new style of government Obama seeks to implement, where the White House works more in concert with Congressional leaders. With tested Congressional organizers like Rahm Emanuel (chief of staff) and Tom Daschle (HHS) on his team, a Pres. Obama will seek to pressure Congress to back his reform proposals, though there is speculation this approach may be made more difficult by his pledge of unprecedented openness.
Obama has pledged that his administration will be the most transparent in history, not only letting daylight in, metaphorically speaking, but involving ordinary Americans in the structure of government, either to get their voices or marshal their support for his policies. This level of innovation may be a tough sell in such a crisis-ripe climate, as the actual work of crafting and implementing policy will involve tough, sometimes contradictory choices which don’t always play well politically.
Eric Holder was reported to be the choice for attorney general yesterday, though the official nomination has not been made. Holder is a longtime Justice Department official, who served as deputy AG under Janet Reno and acting AG in the waning days of the Clinton administration. He has been criticized by some for not stopping Pres. Clinton’s pardon of financier tax-dodger Marc Rich, but has been defended by Republicans who say he could not have played more than an advisory role in such a decision.
William Barr, who served as AG under Pres. George H.W. Bush, from 1991 to 1993, told MSNBC he “can’t think of an attorney general that has had better preparation and experience than Eric Holder” and praised the choice as a demonstration of privileging competence over politics. Obama has said he wants a professional and pragmatist government that will not only observe but support and practice the ideals of the American system, and Holder is widely viewed as a strong backer of the rule of law.
The New York Times reports that:
As a top adviser to Mr. Obama, he has long been considered the front-runner for the job of attorney general because of his extensive record as a prosecutor and a judge and a well-honed reputation inside Washington.
President-elect Obama has also been looking at Peter Orszag, Congressional Budget Office director, for the position of White House budget director, as reported by those close to the transition. Orszag’s appointment would be another sign that Obama is working to stitch together a strong economic advisory team, before filling out the rest of his cabinet positions. A major high-level appointment for which observers are anxiously waiting is the replacement for Treasury secretary Henry Paulson, an official who will oversee the Obama administration’s implementation of the $700 billion financial rescue package appropriated by Congress for shoring up the US banking sector.
[...] As Cafe Sentido reported last week, “Obama has also been looking at Peter Orszag, Congressional Budget Office director, for the position of White House budget director, as reported by those close to the transition.” The appointment was thought to be foreshadowing of Obama’s crafting a team of strong economic advisors and cabinet officials to deal with the current crisis. [...]