Flying Pink Unicorns

Democrats' actions cause joyous optimism.

Now there's a sentence that has rarely if ever been written. Flying Pink Unicorn readers, incredibly good news is in the air all around us. This news is based on the fact that many of the members of Obama's cabinet have been either formally announced or leaked, and that congressional democrats have taken a series of encouraging steps.

First, the cabinet/White House staff. I will discuss the good news out of congress in a later post.

Right out of the gate, Obama thrilled with the appointment of Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff. As I wrote on November 7, I, along with a lot of others, absolutely LOVED this pick. He signalled that Obama's choices might be a lot bolder than was expected from the cautious Obama on the campaign trail. And Obama has been bold.

To start with the most significant posts in the Obama administration. # 1, obviously, is Treasury. I wanted Robert Rubin, or Larry Summers, who succeeded Rubin as Clinton's Treasury Secretary. Yesterday, to some acclaim, Obama instead went with Tim Geithner, the president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, and by all accounts an eminently qualified man. Geithner worked in the 1990s on bailouts of Mexico, South Korea, and Indonesia. Since the first 2 of these worked spectacularly well, he has seen financial crises resolved happily. What really makes my heart sing is that his mentor is Larry Summers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/21/AR2008112102811.html

Summers apparently will serve as a senior economic advisor to Obama. So if I'm not getting precisely my wish of having Summers or Rubin in the post, I'm getting the next best thing, and am getting Summers as an advisor to. Color me pleased.

The second critical appointment of late may have escaped your notice. Tom Daschle, the former Senate Majority Leader (before the democrats lost the Senate majority and before Daschle lost his South Dakota Senate seat) was named as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Now why is that important, you might rightfully ask? HHS is usually considered a backwater cabinet post. Why would a former Senate Majority leader, who once had presidential aspirations, take that post? And why is it a monster huge deal? Health care reform. The Daschle appointment is hugely significant for three reasons. First, he can be of tremendous help on the health care issue of health care reform (he wrote a book about health care in the US, entitled, "Critical: What We Can Do About the Health Care Crisis). He knows his stuff. But policy knowledge is overrated.

Second, Daschle is a master politician. He knows the Senate inside and out, and knows all the players. As complex as health care reform is as a policy matter, the politics are far more important. Nancy Pelosi can pass most any health care reform she wants, short of a single payer system. She'll likely even get some Republican votes. The Senate is far trickier. There have been whispers of the Senate Democrats putting health care reform on the floor in such a way that a filibuster would not be permitted! Needless to say, for the administration to have the expertise of Daschle on the politics and the people involved is invaluable.

Third, the appointment of such a prominent figure sends a loud, clear signal that Obama is deadly serious about health care reform. I just can't believe that Daschle signed on without strong private assurances from Obama on this. Obama is telling anyone listening that he's hugely serious about a major battle for a major reform of our health care system. Emanuel is perfectly suited to lead that battle from inside the White House. Daschle is well suited to lead the political battle. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid seem ready for the fight. And from what I can tell, Obama will egg them on! Its very difficult not to be very optimistic, and I'm not prone to fits of wild optimism!

Of course, we couldn't seriously discuss health care without mentioning Hillary's role. As you've heard, she has apparently decided to accept the Sec State position. Now in my view although her formal qualifications are a little light, she'll be excellent. She's Hillary. She's brilliant, she knows everyone, she thinks, she talks to Bill, she'll be fine. My problem is that I wanted her leading the health care fight, and doing so from the Senate floor! This is the one area of late which was cause for pessimism, her failed attempts to gain a "promotion" within the Senate.

The long and short of it is that she sought to cut the line-- to get a far more prominent position in the Senate than her seniority would allow. I should have blogged on this, but I strongly supported her effort. Ted Kennedy (an early Obama supporter, who has never gotten along with the Clintons) and Harry Reid, would have none of it. They are smaller men for it. Kennedy, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is, unfortunately, dying. It would have made all the sense in the world for him to step aside and allow Hillary to Chair that committee, seniority be damned. ( I note that Kennedy threw her a bone by asking her to lead a task force to develop a Senate Democratic Health care proposal. Lead a task force? Um, didn't she ALREADY DO THAT? At this point, she and a few staffers could write the damn report, in 3 days).

Anyway, a few weeks back, it came to light that Hillary asked Kennedy to create a special health care subcommittee for her to head, and Kennedy said no.


http://www.nypost.com/seven/11092008/news/politics/kennedy_kills_hills_hope_to_be_top_heale_137860.htm

This personal slight is a blow for health care reform, and silly at that. Thanks Ted. To the extent that Hillary was attempting to grab power for herself and away from Obama, well, so what? Obama's fine, don't get me wrong, but who's the real health care expert? Yes, I'd much rather have Hillary design my health care system than Obama, or pretty much anyone else.

What I really wanted, and which was never even discussed, was for Reid to step aside and for Hillary, despite her junior status, to become Majority Leader. She has the clout, the knowledge of the players involved, etc. She'd be a huge improvement over Reid. But that was never even discussed, apparently. *sigh*

But back to the good news. Hillary becoming Secretary of State creates Bill problems, as all of his dealings reenter the news to no good end. But Obama's chief rival becoming his face to the world, a 1/2 black man entrusting the best known woman on earth to represent the United States abroad, has all sorts of positives when you think about it. Forgetting the damn symbolism, Obama gets the benefit of Hillary's thinking and experience. And the world is told, in clear terms, that Clintonism is back. This symbol isn't so important, Obama's winning kind of turned the page on Bush. But Hillary being Sec State goes 1/2 a step further, by reclaiming Bill's legacy of working with the Europeans more, engaging with the Israel-Palestinian situation more, engaging China (one policy area I thought Bush got exactly right) and more.

Eric Holder as Attorney General is fine. I don't really know a lot about him, but he sure seems fine from what I've heard.

I object to Janet Napolitano as Homeland Security Secretary, slightly. As governor of Arizona, she would have been well positioned to challenge McCain for reelection in 2010, possibly the only democrat who could. I know little of her qualifications to head homeland security, so I can't comment.

We haven't heard a leak on defense yet. I assume Gates, the current Sec Def, will be asked to stay on. Fine with me. He's not a loyal Bushie Kool-Aid drinker. Far from it. He's serious, he's fully able, and he'll be an asset as Obama seeks to get out of Iraq (which I think Gates really wants himself) and to win in Afghanistan (where winning is in fact possible, and where I think Gates in fact wants to win). I am entirely comfortable with Gates sticking around.

Bill Richardson will be Commerce. Talk about a booby prize. This is what he gets for shilling so obviously for Hillary back when he and so many others thought she would win. He's badly overqualified for the position. I would have preferred to see him as Sec State, with Hillary leading in the Senate. Ah well, you reward your friends and punish your enemies. This is a minor reward for an enemy turned friend. Commerce is a doesn't matter, so I don't care. Its a waste of Richardson's foreign policy talents, but what can you do?

One possibility I can think of is that Obama, if all goes well, plans to dump Biden in 2012 and have Hillary be his VP. Then Richardson would move up to state.

Anyway, don't lose the forest for the trees. The media will tell you that Hillary is the most significant. She's a superstar, she's a she, State is high profile. The media will tell you that Treasury is critical. (Well, the media's dead on there). But the REALLY critical recent appointment, even more so than Treasury, where it was obviously going to be Geithner, Summers, or Rubin), the main value I have added in this post, is Daschle. Its difficult to overstate how excited I am about the Daschle appointment!!!! Obama knows the obstacles to health care reform are almost exclusively in the Senate. And his point man will be the best person he could possibly have chosen, except for maybe Hillary. Its a jolt of good news.