I don’t know about you, but I tire very quickly of weekly office betting pools on NFL games or March Madness (though I’ve filled out some decent brackets in past years). Rather than try to randomly guess which teams will upset and which will be trounced, how much more fun to have a bracket for the Obama Cabinet (and no, the McCain Cabinet would NOT be equally fun to handicap, unless you were doing it in the Nancy Kerrigan fashion).
Since it was my idea, I’ll start. But I won’t promise not to change these as the election nears (and as I thinka bout it more).
In order of importance (in my opinion):
Secretary of State – Bill Richardson (Alternate – Hillary Clinton, though a poor second)
Secretary of Defense – Jim Webb (Alternates – Dick Lugar or Wesley Clark)
Secretary of the Treasury – Larry Summers (probably safe from his Harvard “scandal”), but only because Robert Rubin won’t want the job Alternate – Robert Reich, my favorite economist.
Attorney General – Patrick Fitzgerald for his commonly-held incorruptability; Eliot Spitzer in another (less sordid) life
Secretary of the Interior – Al Gore would be great, but would never take the job
Homeland Security – Undecided
Secretary of Labor – Easily John Edwards until his scandal, now Dennis Kucinich? Probably not, but wouldn’t it be great?
Secretary of Energy – Potentially a huge job in the Obama cabinet, likely goes to somewhen from industry with a green repuation
Secretary of Commerce – Chris Dodd? Barney Frank – there would be a bold choice.
Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs – Jim Webb if he doesn’t get defense. Maybe Wesley Clark.
Education – Undecided
Health and Human Services – Hillary Clinton would be great here if she were willing to take the dive. However she wouldn’t. She wants senate majority leader.
Agriculture – Kathleen Sibelius?
Transportation – How about Gary Kelly, Chairman and CEO of Southwest Airlines?
