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Obama team gets six more
President-elect to make announcement
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Published: December 1, 2008
WASHINGTON
President-elect Obama plans to announce six experienced people today to fill top administration posts, moving at record speed to name the leadership team that will guide his presidency through a time of war and recession.
His selections include longtime advisers and political foes alike, most notably Democratic primary rival Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, and President Bush's defense secretary, Robert Gates, staying in his current post. The two are among six whom Obama plans to announce at a news conference in Chicago, Democratic officials said.
The officials said that Obama also plans to name Washington lawyer Eric Holder as attorney general, and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as homeland security secretary. He also plans to announce two senior foreign-policy positions outside the Cabinet: Susan Rice, campaign foreign policy adviser, as U.N. ambassador; and retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones as national security adviser.
The officials disclosed the plans yesterday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized for public release ahead of the news conference. Those names had been discussed before for those jobs, but the officials confirmed that Obama will make them official today.
Obama also has settled on former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle to be his secretary of Health and Human Services and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to be Commerce secretary, but those announcements are not yet official. Last week, he named key members of his economic team, including Timothy Geithner, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as Treasury secretary.
Obama has assembled half of his Cabinet less than a month after his election. The team so far shares deep experience and proven ability to get things done. Also, it shares some characteristics with President Bush's first Cabinet choices.
For secretary of state, both went with big names that campaigned against them in their primary race; Obama chose Clinton and Bush chose Colin Powell, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. At HHS, both chose deeply experienced elected officials -- Obama chose Daschle and Bush chose Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson.
They also chose experienced Defense secretaries who had already served in the position -- Gates for Obama, and Donald Rumsfeld for Bush. Both put well-respected governors as their first picks as Homeland Security secretary -- Obama chose Napolitano and Bush chose Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge.
In some cases, Obama chose even more-experienced people. Jones and Richardson have more government experience than Bush's first national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and his Commerce secretary, Donald Evans.
After Obama defeated Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, she backed his general election campaign against Republican Sen. John McCain. Now, she has agreed to give up her Senate seat to be his top diplomat.
To make it possible for his wife to become secretary of state, party officials said, former President Clinton agreed to:
□ Disclose the names of every contributor to his foundation since its inception in 1997 and all contributors in the future.
□ Refuse donations from foreign governments to the Clinton Global Initiative, his annual charitable conference.
□ Cease holding CGI meetings overseas.
□ Volunteer to step away from day-to-day management of the foundation while his wife is secretary of state.
□ Submit his speaking schedule to review by the State Department and White House counsel.
□ Submit any new sources of income to a similar ethical review.
"It's a big step," said Sen. Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who said he plans to vote to confirm Clinton.
Lugar said there would still be "legitimate questions" raised about the former president's extensive international involvement. "I don't know how, given all of our ethics standards now, anyone quite measures up to this who has such cosmic ties, but ... hopefully, this team of rivals will work," Lugar said.
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