What's Up With NewsLadder: Obama's Cabinet News Skyrockets Up

jamesboyce — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:48:08 GMT

On Friday mornings, I take a look at NewsLadder and see what's up. Last week, it was all John McCain, you might remember him, picked a VP who thinks Africa is a country and is now sitting in Arizona wondering what happened.

This week, on Wednesday, we launched the Cabinet NewsLadder to track all the news about what is happening with Barack Obama's Cabinet selections and major appointments, we knew that it would be a huge topic online, but we didn't know quite how big.

Our traffic has been great, and opinions, and votes, are pouring in from all over the world.
Here's the summary:

We're seeing both sides of the debate on Larry Summers. There are some who think his background overcomes his past, checkered on women's issues, and not so good on developing countries. The debate is very fierce about him right now, he is at best a split decision for Obama right now.

Secretary of State. Clearly, the consensus online is that John Kerry or Bill Richardson would be great picks but there is also growing, and significant concern about the rumors surrounding Richard Lugar; how can we possibly pick a Secretary of State who is pro-life? I agree with that by the way. And also with the growing sentiment that the Republicans are the ones who fubared our standing in the world, why would we give them the keys to that department?

Who else is up in the voting online?

Robert Kennedy, Jr for EPA.

Max Cleland for Secretary of the Army

And there are plenty of stories, and opinions, about the one person who actually has been appointed, Rahm Emmanuel. And a lot of people agree with Mr. Bowers in this one by the way.

Stay tuned - there's more to come.

After The MySpace Election, The MySpace Cabinet Selection Process.

jamesboyce — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:40:12 GMT

Think about this a second.

In 1992, President-Elect Bill Clinton, our party's last President-Elect, set about the process of picking a cabinet and, to be honest, he made some great choices. However, it's hard to imagine, but in 1992, no one was blogging about their favorites, no one was watching the prediction markets, no one was emailing their friends, hell, cell phones were new and faxes came out of the machines on long rolls.
The campaign we just survived was indeed the first national election in the internet age, there is no argument about that, but just as the netroots had injected itself squarely in the middle of the political conversation in this country, so now too, will the most DC of processes be broken wide open.

We saw a hint of this with the VP selection process where, when it appeared the choice was coming down to Biden and Bayh, there was an outpouring of negative sentiment towards Bayh, enough so that when that notion made it to the mainstream press, it had to have an effect.

Now, with key positions from Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense and many many more all up for grabs, the opinions will come fast and furious from all sides.

Like many things online, the task of keeping track of all that information can be a little bit difficult so today, we are launching the Cabinet NewsLadder. On this special-edition NewsLadder, you will find all of the stories, articles, posts and rumors (and, of course, we'd appreciate your linking up any we have missed.)

You can also comment on stories and candidates, vote articles and the candidates they espouse up and down and, in general, make your voice known. There is a special Twitter feed from the Cabinet NewsLadder and a daily email will go out.

If you wish to see the latest on John Kerry's chances, just click on his name in the tag cloud.

If you want to see all of the people being considered for Secretary of Defense, click on the job, any job, in the tag cloud.

16 years ago, Bill Clinton picked his cabinet in relative quiet. Right or wrong, I don't think President-Elect Obama is going to have to worry about receiving a shortage of opinions.

The netroots was heard loud and clear this past cycle, I have a feeling we're going to be hearing a lot more from them in the coming days.

Open Left - president-elect obama

What's Up With NewsLadder: Obama's Cabinet News Skyrockets Up

After The MySpace Election, The MySpace Cabinet Selection Process.