Barack Obama has announced Senior Adviser Pete Rouse, former Majority Leader Tom Daschle, and Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina to his staff roster, CQ Politics reports.
“They join incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, a Chicago congressman who is the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House leadership, and White House lobbyist Phil Schiliro, who worked as Daschle’s policy director and was House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman’s top aide before joining the Obama campaign as a liaison to Capitol Hill.
“While Capitol Hill experience is not the primary reason for the appointments, the hires reflect Obama’s sensitivity to the importance of Congress in governance, according to a senior transition official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.”
Read the full story here.
It’s be interesting to see what the rationale of Obama’s appointments is once they start operating. Conservative think-tank ‘The Heritage Foundation’ famously put out a White paper placing emphasis on appointing staffers who were loyal rather than technocrats who could do the job.
It’s a balance Obama will need to negotiate.
Obama doesn’t need movie stars and bureaucrats in his cabinet, but rather real people with real world visions and a track record of accomplishments to show they can get the job done. For energy, this means Andrew Liveris, CEO of Dow Chemical, and somebody who has demonstrated a strong global knowledge of all things related to the energy sector. Liveris has developed a comprehensive energy plan that can be found at http://www.dow.com. The plan sets out eight goals:
1. Encourage aggressive energy efficiency and conservation.
2. Speed more renewable energy to market.
3. Make commercial-scale alternatives a priority.
4. Encourage more domestic oil and gas production.
5. Optimize the carbon efficiency of coal.
6. Prove the viability of carbon capture and storage.
7. accelerate the deployment of nuclear technology.
8. Recognize the interrelationship between energy policy and climate solutions.
This is why Liveris is and should be consided for Obama’s Energy Secretary post. Go check the plan out for yourself.
Apparently there are others who agree with the Liveris pick for energy secretary, including Newsweek and the National Journal (see story at the following link):
http://lostintransition.nationaljournal.com/2008/11/oddsmakers-clinton-secretary-of-state.php