Piecing together a cabinet

Obama is certainly burning the midnight oil trying to get his cabinet together - sooner rather than later. Yet already we see the indication that his ride on the unicorn may be short lived. Already there are rumblings that he must appoint an equal number of black officeholders to match that of the ill-fated Bush administration. Since Bush appointed several major cabinet posts to black candidates, is this to be the new quota? What about Hispanics? Then there are political considerations.

In times like these the qualification of the candidates should matter more than anything. Sure, Lincoln appointed a cabinet of people that were his rivals. Each person in his cabinet though he was better qualified to be President of the United States. Yet, looking at his cabinet picks, even if these people were not his rivals, most were also very good picks. William Seward at State gave great advice to Lincoln and his successors. When Lincoln wanted to issue the Emancipation Proclamation it was Seward that advised him to wait for a victory, or else it would appear to be a last cry of desperation - especially after the Fredricksburg disaster. Instead after the union victory at Antietam Lincoln issued the emancipation order from a position of strength instead of weakness. Salmon Chase at treasury was also fairly competent - his face appearing on the first US paper money - the greenback. Over the duration of the war prices rose 100%, yet with unconstrained paper money in circulation for the first time since the disastrous Revolutionary War Continentals, this was a decent performance. Simon Cameron, at War Dept? Well that was not so good. As Lincoln said "the only thing he wouldn't steal is a red-hot stove." He did not last long as he was replaced by the more competent Stanton.

So what gives Hillary qualifications to be Secretary of State? Especially when in the bull pen sits Richard Holebrooke - the man that rammed home the Dayton accords facing off against the Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic ending the Bosnian war. He served a long tenure in the foreign office and the UN and has many accomplishments in both Asia and Europe being undersecretary of both regions. Plus, as a bonus he also knows international finance having been an investment banker working for Credit Suisse and Wall Street firms including, well Lehman Brothers. Here is a man with the strength, intelligence and savy for the job. In a time of financial crisis and with huge problems in Asia and the need for a tough negotiator - here is is. Is he to be relegated to being an advisor?

Hillary would no doubt bring energy to job, but little else. Oh, I forgot Bill, she would bring Bill along for the ride. This may be beneficial for late night comedians and Saturday Night Live but it bodes ill for this administration. What type of negotiations has she handled? Another candidate with less than stellar appeal is good old John Kerry, who has been eyeing this post as his reward for supporting Obama during the campaign. Now, is not the time for second best or a political pay-back.

With our economy imploding we also want the Treasury to have the most solid of candidates. Paul Volker would be a good candidate, but he is a little old for the stress. Then there is Larry Summers, who is the most qualified person for the position. Of course there is the issue of his foot in mouth problem that happened during his tenure at Harvard. Here he looked at the statistics and did not take heed of the PC and would up getting hammered by women's groups for saying women may have less innate abilities relative to science and engineering. He got hammered and had to do penance for a few years, stepping down from his Harvard Presidency. He is the certainly the most up to the task for what is at hand.

When Lincoln took office he also said he was afraid there was not enough "teats for the pigs". This is certainly even more true today. Emulating Lincoln is a nice touch, but if Old Abe had his choice it would be Holebrooke and Summers and certainly not Hillary and Bill. Mary Todd certainly gave him trouble enough.