No to Summers (4.00 / 2)

I was excited to see the role that the netroots played in lobbying against Bayh for VP.  Among the many possible battles to pick, the netroots picked anti-Bayh-for-VP battle, and seemed to have a strong influence on that process.  

I would like to see the netroots now pick a new battle and lobby against Lawrence Summers for Sec. of the Treasury.  There are plenty of arguments against that appointment around the netroots, so I won't rehash them here.  But Obama was chosen, in large part, because the country trusts him on the economy.  Not only is Summers a bad pick for reasons related to his track record under Clinton (and we're just now seeing how bad some of his decisions turned out to be), but he would be a bad choice politically.  If Summers is selected, I think Obama would lose some political capital on the economy before even taking oath.

No to Summers!

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by: Oly @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 09:31:32 AM CST

Absolutely NO, NO, NO to Summers! (0.00 / 0)

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by: ammasdarling @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 10:12:07 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Still absorbing (0.00 / 0)

I don't think I'm yet ready to cope with all this sausage factory stuff.

I was so wrecked yesterday that I couldn't really get my brain around everything that had just happened. On election night, I was inside a bit of a bubble; a huge party for Democrats in the middle of a very Republican town (though we improved by 15 points over Kerry's performance here).

Now I'm seeing videos all over the internet (and not so much on the news), of huge masses of people partying in the streets in places like Philly and DC, singing God Bless America, the national anthem, cheering and hugging. I mean, that's not the usual way of things, right? I don't remember Republicans doing that for either Bush victory (of course, they don't have huge concentrations in urban areas like we do), and I don't remember that for the Clinton victories, and I was too young to have noticed that sort of thing for Reagan... Even in other landslide elections, has that happened before?

Besides all the well discussed ways in which this is a historic win, post-racial, or post-generational or whatever, there is something different...

Conduct your own interview of Sarah Palin!

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by: fwiffo @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 10:20:02 AM CST

I'm worried about every single member of the Cabinet! (0.00 / 0)

I think it's imperative that the Secretaries of Defense and State be Democrats (no Hagel or Lugar!!!) With regards to Defense, I love Jack Reed. But, Rhode Island has a Republican governor, and I don't know how his replacement would be chosen. Unfortunately, I don't think Wes Clark has been retired long enough to be eligible.

With regards to State, I like John Kerry and think he would do an admirable job. On the other hand, he's such a strong Senator and he's been suggested to take over as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee. There might be better options out there.

Earl Blumenauer should be Secretary of Transportation. We need someone who understands that just driving less isn't the answer. He would be a strong advocate for light rail as well, given its success in Oregon.

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by: pacersfan @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 10:26:08 AM CST

He could appoint a few Republican senators (0.00 / 0)

From states with Democratic governors... He can look bi-partisan while simultaneously improving our margin in the Senate. Arlen Specter, for example, would make an excellent ambassador to Lichtenstein.

Conduct your own interview of Sarah Palin!

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by: fwiffo @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 10:32:39 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Secretary of Defense (0.00 / 0)

I'm a strong member of the "No Republican for SoD" club.  We just can't encourage the meme that Democrats can't handle defense.

However, Hilzoy and Ackerman make a solid case that keeping Bob Gates around for a year or two might be a smart move, as an exception to the rule.

In general, I agree with this argument. I think that the fact that people trust Republicans more on national security is deeply damaging to our country, and I do not want to perpetuate it. If Obama appoints almost any Republican, I will protest. However, a post by Spencer Ackerman persuaded me that there is one big exception to this, and when I read Meteor Blades' piece, I suddenly realized that I inexplicably forgot to blog it. Here it is:

"Keeping Bob Gates as defense secretary has its merits. (...) Here's the reasoning, and all of it is political. Getting out of Iraq requires buy-in from an officer corps that could be fairly described as schizophrenic: it wants out of Iraq at some point, but is acutely sensitive to any perceived slight, particularly from an incoming Democratic administration. False moves from an Obama White House will result in politically damaging leaks. Do not underestimate how powerful a narrative the following line could be: Obama is like Bush -- he wants to hew to an ideological agenda against the best advice of the professional military. All it takes is a few well-timed leaks to establish that narrative. The damage to an Obama administration that already has to deal with a global financial crisis would be massive.

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by: Mark Matson @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 12:06:30 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Interesting project! (0.00 / 0)

Even with just a few thousand people involved, and with about 20 key blog posts and articles, the Bayh "reverse draft" had a very clear effect on conventional wisdom -- both in terms of attention from MSM blogs and the Intrade prediction market.  Like the other the two large social network activism projects over the summer (Get FISA Right and #dontgo), this was a negative statement: it's easier to unify people against something that's fairly universally disliked.  My guess is that we might see the same dynamic here, with very strong disapproval ratings for particular candidates more likely to show up than strong approvals.

Have you thought about coupling it with some kind of automated analysis a la Memeorandom/Techmeme or Microsoft Research's BLEWS?

Currently it seems like it's set up to give feedback on the stories, not on the candidates.  Is that something you're planning on adding?

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by: JonPincus @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 10:30:18 AM CST

Change.Gov (0.00 / 0)

It isn't really on line, yet, but Obama is putting up Change.Gov right now.  I believe it is also going to track this kind of stuff, though not really sure.

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by: Mark Matson @ Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 10:59:52 AM CST