Posted by Shyam Moondra
As the November presidential election approaches, the voters are now increasingly playing the guessing game of who would be Obama's running-mate and cabinet members.
Since Obama will make history, if he wins, it does not appear necessary to make another history by selecting a woman or a black or a hispanic running-mate (how much history people can take in one shot?). That means the choice would likely be a white man. Since the problems we are facing are so complex and entrenched, it will require an energetic team. That means Obama's running-mate should be a white man roughly his age. Based on that, the likely choices would be Edwards, Bayh, or Webb. Edwards didn't do good as a presidential candidate or as a VP candidate during the last election, so his vote getting abilities are in doubt. Bayh could help win Indiana but he lacks charisma. Webb has the military credentials and could help win support among the rural blue-collar white voters, but he is viewed by many as somewhat unpredictable. Other choices would be Biden (strong national security and foreign affairs background) or Nunn (a southern conservative with strong defense background, who might help win the votes of Republicans and Independents).
The cabinet should have at least a few women, black, hispanic, asian, and Republicans. The likely choices would be Powell or Biden (State), Hagel or Gates (Defense - someone who must agree to reorganize Pentagon and cut wasteful spending), Treasury (Dimon, JPM CEO), Health (Clinton), AG (Edwards), EPA (Gore), Energy (Richardson - he fumbled the job before, but should be given another chance), HUD or Education (Jindal, a pragmatic rising star in the Republican party), Labor (Reich), National Security Advisor (Dudd or Cohen or Nunn), Trade Representative (Ford), and U.N. Ambassador (Hill). Other important jobs to be filled would be new chairpersons for Federal Reserve Board (Bernanke has not been up to the task), SEC (Cox, who is in bed with Big Business, failed miserably in enforcing the laws), CFTC (let the oil and commodity bubble form hurting our economy), and FTC (failed to protect consumers).
