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sabang

NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Barack Obama has chosen New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to be commerce secretary, adding a prominent Hispanic and one-time Democratic rival to his expanding Cabinet.

Obama planned to announce the nomination after Thanksgiving, according to a Democratic official familiar with the discussions. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the negotiations and did so on condition of anonymity.

Richardson, 61, had a distinguished and visible career in Washington before returning to New Mexico, where he was elected governor in 2002. Richardson served as U.N. ambassador under President Bill Clinton and later as energy secretary. He was in the House from 1983 to 1997.

Clinton sent Richardson on several high-level diplomatic missions while he was in Congress, including direct talks with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

In Richardson, Obama will get a secretary of commerce who has been described as relentless and competitive, with a jocular sense of humor.

Richardson is a seasoned international negotiator who mediated with North Korea over the downing of two U.S. Army helicopter pilots; hammered out a deal with Saddam Hussein for the release of two U.S. oil workers; won the release of three Red Cross workers held captive by Sudanese rebels; and was later sought out by the North Koreans to discuss nuclear issues....

Obama considered Richardson to be secretary of state and brought him to Chicago to discuss the job. The president-elect is on track to name Hillary Rodham Clinton to the top diplomatic post and was expected to announce the pick after Thanksgiving.

Full Article- The Associated Press: Official: Richardson to be commerce secretary

So Obama considered Richardson for SoS, but ended up with Hillary. My opinion is it should be the other way around- Richardson for SoS- he's a good, affable diplomat and negotiator. Hillary for Commerce- give her a decent portfolio within the USA. Oh well.

Richardson is Obamas first Hispanic pick too. I doubt this one will be controversial.

__________________
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.

Jet Gorgon

I think it was a smart move for BO but not Hil. He gets her out of his hair in the Senate and all the issues, especially health care. She no longer has a say or ability to debate the issues, even foreign affairs. Technically, she was her own boss there, now he is her direct boss. She can suggest, but he can just say no.
In four years, could she get back into the Senate? If he gets two terms, would she be able to run for prez again? She'd be 69 and not up to speed on domestic issues at all. I almost see it as Chicago politics -- give her a plum job that takes her far, far away from any say in the country's domestic biz.

Butterfly

yeah good move from Obama, always keep your enemies close

raycarey

she had already been squeezed out of healthcare policy by kennedy and baucus.

get better informed.

Little Black Duck

Come on Jettie he did come in without a mop so if that aint something I'm not playing, it just goes to prove there are more things than mops to use to clean up.

DrivingForce

not even taken the oath and he's backpedaling like the stereotypical politician, full of change he is..full of somthin I suspect but it ain't change..

Obama's tax hike for the rich may be delayed

By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer Jim Kuhnhenn, Associated Press Writer Tue Nov 25, 12:51 am ET
WASHINGTON – An economic crisis, rising joblessness and a credit squeeze can make a president-elect refine his words. Today's word is "repeal." During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised to repeal President George W. Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy ahead of their scheduled expiration in 2011.
It was part of how Obama would pay for an overall net tax cut aimed at low- and middle-income taxpayers, and an effort to bring what he called "fairness" to the tax system.
No one is talking tax hikes now.
Over the weekend, Obama said he has charged his new economic team with devising a plan that would create or preserve 2.5 million jobs over two years. He said the plan would include broad spending plans as well as the middle- and low-income tax cuts he described during the campaign.
Aides later said the plan would not include any of the tax increases Obama, as a candidate, had said he would impose on taxpayers who make more than $250,000.
Asked Monday when those hikes might go into effect, Obama said, "Whether that's done through repeal, or whether that's done because the Bush tax cuts are not renewed, is something that my economic team will be providing me a recommendation on."
If repealed early, Obama's tax increase on the rich would have generated significant revenue, but not enough to compensate for the cost of his tax cuts. An analysis by the Tax Policy Center, based on January 2008 income projections, estimated that the increases would result in about $43 billion in revenue in 2009 and $45 billion in 2010. Those numbers would be smaller now, as the economy has lowered expected incomes.
Obama's economic advisers say he will not propose any tax increases in the economic plan he unveils in January. It is to be focused entirely on job creation and economic recovery.

Obama's tax hike for the rich may be delayed - Yahoo! News

what I'd like to know is was any of this new information BEFORE he claimed he was going to do these things during his campaign? or is it all just old news he glossed over to accomplish his own agenda.. don't bother...rhetorical question..

Milkman

It seems that he's a politician, and conforming to Washington realities: he's moving to the Center.

raycarey

first of all, of course he's a politician. secondly, he never said he was going to hike taxes on the rich...but rather bring the rates back to where they were during the clinton administration (you know, the period which had the greatest economic growth in US history).

GWB has run the economy into a ditch...and considering the current set of circumstances he faces, obama is acting responsibly....imagine that.

DrivingForce

well exactly...but that isn't the platform he ran on is it? it is what was openly prophetically predicted here though many months ago....

my point is that he knew very well (or should have) that to make any "change" in Washington this is what he was going to have to do, but he never presented it that way, I'm fairly certain if he'd spoken the truth in his campaign he wouldn't be there now..

it is just but yet another example very early on of many more to come, of his inexperience and naivety and the preponderance of his cabinet to date is former Clinton coat tail riders because he has no choice but to surround himself with people who have done this before because he isn't experienced enough to independently make the big choices..

DrivingForce

too bad the nik "spin" is already taken as it fits you far better.. I see backpedaling isn't just a politicians talent..

sabang

The Christian Science Monitor seems happy enough:-

So far, the president-elect has shown himself to be a nimble pragmatist in response to the economy's rapid decline since his Nov. 4 election victory. With jobless claims at a 16-year high and rising, America's preferred agent of "change" has had to change his own transition agenda very quickly.

Instead of picking his national-security team first, as expected, Mr. Obama moved fast to assemble an economic team in order to reassure Americans and the world that he would be ready to act on Jan. 20. Markets can not afford a leadership vacuum...


All the members of Obama's economic team reflect his decision to put competency ahead of ideology. One of his more intriguing choices is Christina Romer as head of the President's Council of Economic Advisers. As a professor at the University of California-Berkeley, she has argued in academic papers that tax increases have a negative effect on investment.

Obama's nimble economics | csmonitor.com

Jet Gorgon

^ Nice find, Sabang. Let's see what happens; haven't read up on Romer. Summer seems ticked that Geithner is the TS pick, but he's so personally abrasive he couldn't be given that post.

raycarey

on what, pray tell, is this based on?

link to anything that would substantiate this claim.

Norton

Damn. Another insider!!!!!

"Defense Secretary Robert Gates has agreed to stay in his job when president-elect Barack Obama takes office in January, with an announcement expected next week, reports said late Tuesday."

AFP: Gates to stay as Pentagon chief: reports

DrivingForce

yah, I got hell for posting that possibility when it first popped up about a week ago...He's pretty much just riding coat tails here, much of the measures were already in place and now over his term it will all begin to pan out and he'll be the world hero..

i like Gates but the fact is he doesn't represent "change" and his policies were already in place and turning the war in Iraq around.
i wasn't particularly impressed with Bush but let's be fair here he began his first term with a terrorist attack unlike any other in history and confronted an unseen, cowardly enemy that hides in caves and took the fight to their backyard instead of waiting passively for another attack and that strategy has prevented further attacks and drained their resources...

Bush had already made all of these admissions and direction changes that they are lauding about Obama doing, for Bush it was a detriment but for the super hero it displays good decision making and strong conviction, an obvious double standard...

now he ends his term with this world wide economic Tsunami which in spite of peoples perception he had little to do with. it is also in large part a by-product in some sense of the terrorist attacks and other factors beyond his control, but inevitably his admin in it's short time left has also taken positive steps to turn that in a new direction but it won't happen during his term so thus he won't get the credit instead just like Clinton the "One" will reap all of the accolades again..

the writing on the wall is so clear it's incomprehensible to me how others can deny it?

Texpat

Gates? You mean that Bush lackey?

Damn, BO, bring some game, brother.

I suppose it's best not to fcuk around with Defense too much right off the bat if you don't know the difference between a P-3



and a P-38.

Norton

Guess some folks just can't be pleased no matter who he picks.

Another P-38 for your perusal.

sabang

Probably a bit early for a 'Why Obama will win Reelection' thread, but he's looking good at the starting gates. The guy is a pragmatist- not a left wing loonie, not a Chicago mobster, a Muslim, an Arab, or a race warrior. A moderate in every sense of the word- not a radical statist like Bush. The Press reports I am reading suggest a growing comfort level with his pending administration, even among many former sceptics.

One obvious factor that differentiates Obama from the myopic Bush administration is that he is casting his net much wider for his senior advisers- for example he has financial conservatives in his team, and is retaining Gates as Pentagon chief. Not just a bunch of neo-con relics like Bush' team, or Chicago politicians as was implied by a few here.

Texpat

Wow, Gates goes from evil warmonger to competent strategist overnight.

Amazing.

BO's not even in office yet, Sabang. The starry-eyed honeymoon will be over soon enough.

You might want to have your stomach X-rayed for the hook, line and sinker.

sabang

Absolutely, and rightly so. I've inferred this in several posts. Which is why the moves and preparation taken by Obama thus far augur well for his Presidency.

I have no idea if Gates was in favour of the disastrous invasion of Iraq or not, but he inherited the mess and is doing a much better job than his predecessor. I've never been critical of Gates.

I assume all of you that argued against my "Why Obama will Win" thread have already undergone that procedure.