a GOP guy who is not in office and retired from politics can work for Biden . They have no worry about how GOP folks think of them.
This is why I think there really needs to be an age limit on running for president–by the parties, if not a law. As long as everyone in their 60s and 70s thinks they are “still in the game” and might run for president some day, there’s an incentive to actively avoid developing younger talent in the party. I really think that’s how we got in this situation and why we pretty much had to nominate Biden.
It’s still their community. They have to live with these people. And if they are retired because they don’t want to work any more, why go work for Biden? And if they do want to work some more, as consultants or board members or whatever, they would burn every bridge with the GOP and not build any with the Democrats. A person who was in the GOP for decades is not going to get a job lobbying on the left just because he was a Biden appointee for a couple years.
Pete as Transportation Secretary? I don’t like it. He doesn’t have the resume for that kind of heavy work.
Just out of curiosity, what kind of resume do you think a Secretary of Transportation needs? It actually seems like a good post for someone with a background as a mayor, as transportation is a major issue for localities.
HUD seems like a better fit, but I bet he’ll do a good job at it.
Here’s more:
Any type of experience with huge organizations would be nice. He’s a small-town mayor. Give him an ambassadorship and ease him into the big time.
I agree that such experience would be helpful, but I don’t think it’s necessary. Hopefully he will have a competent Deputy Secretary who will have more experience managing a large organization and who will take on the day-to-day operational role.
Any Cabinet Secretary is going to be a mixed bag of the various traits that you would ideally like to see in such a position – good communicator, managerial experience, political connections, policy expertise, etc. Smart Secretaries staff up with top executives whose skills balance out their deficiencies and focus their own activities in those areas of the job that play to their strengths.
Jennifer Granholm at Energy.
Let’s include the information superhighway as part of transportation. Put the smartest guy in the room in charge of the big hole in our systems.
I too wanted Buttigieg to have a Ambassadorship, Germany or UK, for connections and helping the US get back in good grace in the world.
Secret fear is that Kamala Harris will nudge him out of the limelight so her profile is higher for the future.
Jay Inslee seems like a great pick for Climate Czar , or whatever John Kerry is doing. Or Dept of Labor to modernize the system for workers and “independent” ha ha
contractors.
Note, despite many ideas here with listing his opponents, Pete is the only one that got a nod, afaik.
Sorry, but this is called bigotry. We have only one age requirement, per the Constitution- min Age 35.
Anything else is bigotry.
I’ve seen it suggested that Pete’s gonna be sent into Transportation to look for Chao’s shenanigans, because you know she was up to some stuff in there, given that he was in intelligence and seems to be generally a straight shooter.
Biden has said he’s not in favor of going after Trump crimes. Maybe that applies to Trump sycophants in the cabinet too.
It’s interesting to me that both Jones and Garland are people who “took one for the team” in a big way. Both offered themselves up for long-shot positions that potentially derailed their personal trajectory, and I can see a real desire to take care of both of them.
Biden has to know that if he nominates Garland, McConnell will never let him fill the vacancy that creates on the DC Circuit Court.
I’m a teacher and I think it is accurate to say that Betsy Devos is the most incompetent, unqualified, and antagonistic cabinet secretary we’ve seen in education.
Biden needs to fill that slot with the most liberal, union-positive, person he can find.
NC EPA head picked to run US EPA
And Biden has official picked Deb Haaland for Secretary of the Interior, the first Native American to run the department. I’m already cringing at the thought of the racist right-wing memes this is going to lead to.