By Mallory Hayes
Staff Writer
Even before the conclu¬sion of the 2008 Presiden¬tial election, speculation was underway about who would serve as Cabinet members in an Obama Administration. It was as¬sumed that the candidate that advocated total and complete “change” would neglect the traditional em¬phasis on experience and appoint mostly Washington outsiders. Experience, how¬ever, has turned out to be more important to Obama now that he is no longer just a candidate for President. His administration consists largely of seasoned veter¬ans who are by no means strangers to Washington politics.
Obama’s surprise pick of running mate, Joe Biden, was sworn in alongside the president on January 20. At the time of the announce-ment, many speculated that the Vice Presidency would go to Sen. Hillary Clinton, who had, after all, secured the second most votes of any candidate in Democratic Primary history. Biden, however, was seen by Obama to be experi¬enced enough to be second in line for the presidency.
Hillary Clinton, mean¬while, received the nom¬ination for Secretary of State. As the senator had petitioned during her bid for the Presidential nomi¬nation, her abundance of overseas and foreign policy experience made her quite qualified to be the chief U.S. diplomat to foreign nations during a time of political unrest abroad.
President Obama’s choices of commerce and treasury secretaries were far more critiqued by both sides of the isle. Bill Rich¬ardson, the governor from New Mexico, was nominat¬ed as commerce secretary. Prior to being approved by the Senate, however, Richardson was accused of trading state contracts in exchange for campaign financing. The governor withdrew his nomination in early January.
Obama’s nomination of Timothy Geithner as Sec¬retary of the Treasury has drawn tremendous outrage from many on Capitol Hill. Geithner underwent Sen¬ate trials for failing to pay income taxes over a four-year period. Reportedly, he did finally acknowledge the mistake and repay the amount, but not until just days before he received the nomination for treasury secretary. The Senate ap¬proved Geithner’s nomina¬tion on January 26 by a 60-34 vote.
While most agreethat nominating a person who neglected to pay his taxes is not the kind of change Americans voted for, many are relieved that Obama “changed” his stance by enlisting mostly Washington insiders who are experienced in the roles that will be so critical in the coming years.
