Barack Obama's Team

The Cabinet

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"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,"

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Note:	This page is organized by rank. The .gov website for each department may be reached by clicking the link under the pictures. Click the blue secretary name for additional information.
	Who Runs Government
	Profiles of the Obama Administration.
	Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton
State	(b. 1947) is the Secretary of State of the United States, and its chief diplomat. From 2001 to 2008 she was Senator from New York, and from 1993 to 2001 was First Lady of the United States of America during the Clinton Administration. In 2000, Clinton ran for the New York Senate seat vacated by the Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Backed by the White House, she obtained the Democratic nomination for this Senate seat, and then won easily against Republican Rick Lazio (who entered the race when Rudy Giuliani withdrew). She ran for the 2008 Democratic Presidential Candidacy, winning more primaries than any female politician in American history. On June 7th, 2008 she conceded defeat to Barack Obama after a closely challenged campaign, although she did not release her delegates until the convention itself.
	Timothy F. Geithner
Treasury	Obama's tarnished selection for Treasury Secretary, is connected to Obama through their parents. Geithner's father, Peter F. Geithner, is the director of the Asia program at the Ford Foundation in New York. During the early 1980s, Peter Geithner oversaw the Ford Foundation's microfinance programs in Indonesia being developed by Ann Dunham-Soetoro, mother of President-elect Barack Obama, and they met in person at least once. Mr. Geithner’s father was head of the philanthropy’s Asia grant making for a period in the early 1980s and oversaw the work of Mr. Obama’s mother, who developed the organization’s microfinance programs in Indonesia. During the vetting process, it was discovered that Geithner failed to pay his 1099, self-employment, taxes during the years he worked at the International Monetary Fund, making him uniquely qualified to direct Obama's election-scam that gives billions of dollars in "income tax rebates" to people who never paid any income taxes. Documents released by the Senate Finance Committee strongly suggest that Geithner knew, or should have known, what he was doing when he did not pay his 1099 taxes in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004. After his failure to pay was discovered, first by the IRS and later during the vetting process, Geithner paid the federal government a total of $42,702 in taxes and interest. The Obama transition team argues that Geithner simply slipped up. He was working a big-time job, paying big-time money at the International Monetary Fund and getting 1099s for 4 years and all he ended up paying was $40 grand? And, they paid him a tax allowance to help him pay him for tax payments. This guy evaded paying taxes for years and doesn't even have to pay any penalty or interest? It's nice to have influence -- oh, and to be a dhimmicrat.
	Robert M. Gates
Defense	Dr. Robert M. Gates was sworn in on December 18, 2006, as the 22nd Secretary of Defense. Dr. Gates is the only Secretary of Defense in U.S. history to be asked to remain in that office by a newly elected Barack Obama. Before entering his present post, Dr. Gates was the President of Texas A&M University, the nation's seventh largest university. Prior to assuming the Texas A&M presidency, on August 1, 2002, he served as Interim Dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M from 1999 to 2001. Secretary Gates joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1966 and spent nearly 27 years as an intelligence professional. During that period, he spent nearly nine years at the National Security Council, The White House, serving four presidents of both political parties. Dr. Gates served as Director of Central Intelligence from 1991 until 1993. He is the only career officer in CIA's history to rise from entry-level employee to Director. He served as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence from 1986 until 1989 and as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser at the White House from January 20, 1989, until November 6, 1991, for President George H.W. Bush. Secretary Gates has been awarded the National Security Medal, the Presidential Citizens Medal, has twice received the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, and has three times received CIA's highest award, the Distinguished Intelligence Medal.
	Eric Holder
Justice	Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. (born January 21, 1951) is the 82nd and current Attorney General of the United States and the first African American to hold the position. Holder previously served as a judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, United States Attorney, Deputy Attorney General of the United States and worked at the law firm of Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. He was senior legal advisor to then-Senator Barack Obama during Obama's presidential campaign and one of three members of Obama's vice-presidential selection committee. And this guy has a history.
	Kenneth L. Salazar
Interior
	Thomas J. Vilsack
Agriculture
	Gary F. Locke
Commerce
	Hilda L. Solis
Labor
	Kathleen Sebelius
Health and Human Services	As a Democratic governor in red-state Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius has vetoed several bills that would modestly restrict abortion. She supports late-term abortion. She's socialized and taken money from well-known abortion extremists, and she has been unofficially ostracized from the Catholic Church for her stance. But you'd have to go out of your way to learn much about that from the news reports that followed the Feb. 28 announcement that Obama planned to nominate her as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This is a position that controls a $700 billion budget and, according to the New York Times, "would have considerable influence over government policy on abortion." Sebelius' association with Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider. In May 2007, Sebelius spoke at a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri. The chapter's summer 2007 newsletter related: Friends of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri gathered Tuesday, May 15th for a truly star-studded affair. "I've Got Rhythm, I've Got Rights" showcased two champions of our cause, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius and PPFA National President, Cecile Richards. Both Cecile and Governor Sebelius spoke passionately about the challenges Planned Parenthood faces, specifically citing the more than 240 "uninvited guests" lining the streets of the Jazz District. Governor Sebelius walked right through these unpleasant protestors and didn't miss a beat. In fact, both women mentioned in their remarks how meaningful it is for supporters to experience first hand what PPKM staff and thousands of women trying to access health care must deal with on a regular basis. It was only Bill O'Reilly on Fox News who discussed Sebelius' record on March 2. He reported: [T]he governor is a controversial choice because she has opposed most restrictions on abortions even late term. And the archbishop from Kansas Joseph Naumann suggested she refrain from receiving communion as the governor's Catholic. Well, she came to our attention after accepting campaign money from George Tiller, known as Tiller, the baby killer. He's currently charged with a variety of crimes centering on his abortion practice. He aborts babies at any time for just about any reason if you pay him $5,000. Even absent the abortion controversy, the nomination to Health and Human Services Secretary of someone who declined to address such basic issues in her own state should be news.
	Shaun L.S. Donovan
Housing and Urban Development
	Raymond L. LaHood
Transportation
	Steven Chu
Energy
	Arne Duncan
Education
	Eric K. Shinseki
Veterans Affairs
	Janet Napolitano
Homeland Security	The Daily Mail blogs comments on the mad bomber who came within seconds of blowing up Flight 253 headed to Detroit. What does the Obama's chief of Homeland Security plan on doing to prevent a repeat? Nothing -- Janet Napolitano said: "The system worked" -- she really, really said that.

Note:	The following positions have the status of Cabinet-rank.
	Leon Panetta
Central Intelligence Agency	The inexperienced Obama has selected the inexperienced Leon Panetta, former congressman and Clinton White House chief of staff, to take over the Central Intelligence Agency, an organization that Obama criticized during the campaign for using interrogation methods he decried as "torture." Panetta, whose chief qualification is bloviating against torture, has a reputation in Washington as a competent manager with strong background in budget issues. He has absolutely no hands-on intelligence experience. If confirmed by the Senate, a kindler, gentler CIA Director will take control of the agency most directly responsible for hunting senior Al Qaeda leaders around the globe. Obama's public relations people at the Associated Press report that Obama is sending an unequivocal message that controversial policies approving harsh interrogations, waterboarding and extraordinary renditions -- the secret transfer of prisoners to other governments with a history of torture -- and "warrantless wiretapping" are over-- the policy of "hug a terrorist today" is here. Despite an internal list of former and current CIA officials who had impressive administrative credentials, Panetta was selected, in large part, because he comes from outside the intelligence world. Part of Panetta's outside world is his membership in the Institute for Policy Studies [IPS], described by Brian Crozier, director of the London-based Institute for the Study of Conflict, as "...the perfect intellectual front for Soviet activities which would be resisted if they were to originate openly from the KGB." The IPS is described as a Washinton-based "Think Factory", which helped train extremist who incite violence in the United States and whose educational research serves as a cover for intrigue and political agitation" (FBI file 175-398). Another description given is that the "IPS apparently exercises considerable influence in the New Left Movement and may have as its goal the destruction of the United States Government." Obama's choice for CIA Director is a member.
	Chair Christina Romer
Council of Economic Advisers
	Administrator Lisa P. Jackson
Environmental Protection Agency
	Director Peter R. Orszag
Office of Management and Budget
	U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk
United States Trade Representative
	Susan Rice
Ambassador to the United Nations	The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, says the United States' goals at the United Nations are four-fold. "Strengthening the capacity of the organization to engage effectively in complex peace operations at a time when the burdens and challenges placed on the institution are greater than ever. Advancing our national and collective agenda to address climate change and the challenges of non-proliferation are two other important objectives. And putting the United States at the center of international efforts to support poverty reduction, development, fighting disease and achieving the Millennium Development Goals."
	Rahm Emanuel
White House Chief of Staff	From LiveJournal -- Rahm Emanuel (nickname "Rahmbo") is the middle son of a well-off Jewish family from Chicago, and an absolute dick to everyone. He studied ballet and then went to Sarah Lawrence and became a political fundraiser. He was one of the original fabled "War Room" members of the '92 Clinton Campaign and served in the White House til '98, when he left to become an investment banker (millionaire) and teach at Northwestern.

Note:	Other key appointments
	Larry Summers
Chief Economic Adviser	Obama's chief economic adviser, Larry Summers, received hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees last year from firms that have direct financial interests before the government or are intimately involved in the White House's bank relief programs. The White House released late Friday the personal financial disclosure forms of many high-ranking administration officials. The document provided for Summers, who serves as one of the president's closest confidants, underscores just how close some of these officials are to the industry over which they now have oversight. Among the firms that paid Summers large amounts in speaking fees include J.P. Morgan Chase. That bank offered the former Harvard president and Treasury Secretary $67,500 for a February 1, 2008 engagement. It has received $25 billion in government bailout funds. Citigroup, which has received $50 billion in taxpayer help, paid Summers $45,000 for a speech in March 2008 and another $54,000 for a speech that May. Goldman Sachs, which has received $10 million in bailout funds, paid Summers $135,000 for a speech on April 16, 2008 and another $67,500 for a speech on June 18, 2008. Summers also received about $5.2 million over the past year in salary from the major hedge fund D.E. Shaw. The speech payments will undoubtedly raise questions as to the impartiality of the economic advice Summers is providing to the president. Already viewed as too favorably disposed to Wall Street interests, the lavish payments for speeches will provide further fodder for those who think the administration has been forgiving in their approach to the banking industry.
	Zbigniew Brzezinski
Foreign Affairs Advisor	Last year Zbigniew Brzezinski, adviser to former US president Jimmy Carter, described the Bush administration's policy of maintaining the option of military action against Iran as "counterproductive," and recently, he said, that scrapping the missile defense of our Eastern European allies was the right thing to do. In a little noticed interview with the Daily Beast, Brzezinski, who is known to be anti-Israel, suggests that Obama do more than just refuse to support an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear sites -- he is recommending that Obama must give the order to shoot down Israeli aircraft as they cross Iraqi airspace: DB: How aggressive can Obama be in insisting to the Israelis that a military strike might be in America’s worst interest? Brzezinski: We are not exactly impotent little babies. They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch? DB: What if they fly over anyway? Brzezinski: Well, we have to be serious about denying them that right. That means a denial where you aren’t just saying it. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not. No one wishes for this but it could be a Liberty in reverse. The Weekly Standard adds: Contrary to Brezinski's half-hearted disclaimer that no one wishes for such an outcome, there are plenty on the left who would delight in a pitched battle between the United States and Israel. Democrats in Congress routinely support resolutions affirming Israel's right to take whatever steps it deems necessary to assure its own national defense. And Obama has at least paid lip service to the concept. But hostility to Israel among the rank and file is very real on the left -- and among "realists." So conjure the image -- the Obama administration sending U.S. aircraft up to protect Iran's airspace and it's nuclear installations from an attack by a democracy that is one of America's closest allies. Unfortunately, this may not be so hard to imagine in Israel, where the number of people who believe Obama is pro-Israel is at just 4 percent -- and falling. And given Obama's (literally) submissive posture to the Saudis, his indulgence of the Iranians, and his simultaneously hard-line approach to Israel, it seems even some of Obama's supporters can savor the possibility of a "reverse Liberty." This is just Barack Obama's way of thanking the 78 percent of Jewish Americans that cast their ballot for him last November.
	Harold Koh
State Department Legal Advisor	Obama's selection of jurist and self-described "activist" Harold Koh to become the State Department’s top legal advisor must be judged a disappointment. Until recently, Koh served as the head of Yale Law School. In that prominent and influential position, he offered opinions reflecting his staunch "transnationalist" views -- that is, Koh believes that distinctions between U.S. law and international law should be eliminated -- inevitably in favor of the latter’s latest anti-American whims. According to his writings, Harold Koh thinks it is "appropriate for the Supreme Court to construe our Constitution in light of foreign and international law" when "American legal rules seem to parallel those of other nations;" when "foreign courts have applied standards roughly comparable to our own constitutional standards in roughly comparable circumstances;" and "when a U.S. constitutional concept, by its own terms, implicitly refers to a community standard." Koh’s legal premises are highly controversial. The Center for Security Policy’s Frank Gaffney Jr. observes that, in effect, Koh "favors U.S. submission to the International Criminal Court." According to Gaffney, Koh "has been an unalloyed enthusiast" for the "lawfare" being practiced abroad by provocateurs like Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon, who wants to prosecute former Bush advisors for allegedly permitting "torture" at Guantanamo Bay prison. Indeed, Koh himself has promised to dismantle many of the national security policies put in place by the Bush administration as part of the ongoing War on Terror. Lamenting America’s "obsessive focus on the War on Terror," Koh proposes to replace it with what he calls a "global human rights policy." According to Koh, this means that "[W]e need to stop pushing for double standards in human rights. If we believe that human rights are universal, we must respect them, even for suspected terrorists.... And as a matter of universal principle, we must give all detainees basic humane treatment, however heinous they may be." As these views suggest, Koh views terrorism not as a form of warfare that warrants a military response, but rather as a legal matter to be addressed in a courtroom. He maintains that even if the actual perpetrators of 9/11 were to have been somehow captured alive, insisting that "the United States must try, not lynch, them to promote four legal values higher than vengeance: holding them accountable for their crimes against humanity; telling the world the truth about those crimes; reaffirming that such acts violate all norms of civilized society; and demonstrating that law-abiding societies, unlike terrorists, respect human rights by channeling retribution into criminal punishment for even the most heinous outlaws." In keeping with his view that terrorists deserve every legal privilege, Koh argues that they must be tried in civilian courts rather than military tribunals. Tellingly, Koh believes that the great virtue of civilian trials is that they stand a better chance of winning the approval of the international community. "The strongest argument against military commissions is not legal, but political," he has written. "Military commissions create the impression of kangaroo courts, not legitimate accountability mechanisms.… To truly win a global war against terrorism, the U.S. must not only apply, but also be universally seen to be applying, credible justice. Credible justice for international crimes demands tribunals that are fair and impartial both in fact and in appearance. By their very nature, military tribunals fail this test." Continues here . . .
	Charles "Chas" Freeman
National Intelligence Council	Obama has named Charles "Chas" Freeman, the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War, to head the U.S. National Intelligence Council. The NIC is a crucial component of the U.S. intelligence apparatus, serving as the center for midterm and long-term strategic thinking within the American intelligence community. It provides intelligence briefs for Obama and key U.S. agencies and produces reports that help determine American policy on crucial issues, such as Iran's nuclear program. He works for Chinese government and his company's deals were seen as attempt to expand communist nation's influence Freeman is on the board of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, or CNOOC, which in 2005 tried to purchase the ninth largest oil firm in the U.S. while he was a member. The merger was halted following bipartisan congressional opposition amid fears the deal would harm American national security interests. Freeman has served on the board of CNOOC since 2004. He also founded a pro-China organization, the U.S.-China Policy Foundation, which seeks to promote U.S.-China relations. Freeman did not return WND requests for comment left with a media representative for his Middle East Policy Council. CNOOC, the third largest Chinese oil company, focuses on the exploitation, exploration and development of crude oil and natural gas offshore of China. Seventy-five percent of the company's shares are owned by the government of the People's Republic of China. In 2005, CNOOC made a staggering, all-cash $18.5 billion offer to buy the American oil company Unocal, topping an earlier bid by ChevronTexaco. Immediately, lawmakers and many policy experts, including a broad array of Democrats and Republicans in Congress, mounted a major opposition campaign to the bid, urging the Bush administration to have the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. determine how the deal would affect national security. "This takeover is part of a Chinese strategy to move very aggressively into acquiring natural resource assets all over the world to fuel China's continued growth, because China is relatively resource-poor," Alan Tonelson, a research fellow with the U.S. Business and Industry Council, told reporters in 2005. "It's also part of a Chinese campaign to move, again, very aggressively into the American economy." Here's more stuff on this guy.
	John P. Holdren
Science Adviser	When Obama nominated John P. Holdren as his Science Adviser last December 20, he stated "promoting science isn’t just about providing resources" but "ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology." In nominating John Holdren, his words could scarcely have taken a more Orwellian ring. Some critics have noted Holdren's penchant for making apocalyptic predictions that never come to pass, and categorizing all criticism of his alarmist views as not only wrong but dangerous. What none has yet noted is that Holdren is a globalist who has endorsed "surrender of sovereignty" to "a comprehensive Planetary Regime" that would control all the world's resources, direct global redistribution of wealth, oversee the "de-development" of the West, control a World Army and taxation regime, and enforce world population limits. He has castigated the United States as "the meanest of wealthy countries," written a justification of compulsory abortion for American women, advocated drastically lowering the U.S. standard of living, and left the door open to trying global warming "deniers" for crimes against humanity. Such is Obama's idea of a clear-headed adviser on matters of scientific policy.
	Valerie Jarrett
Senior Adviser	Barack Obama named his longtime friend and supporter Valerie Jarrett to be his White House senior adviser. Jarrett, who hired Michelle Obama for a job in the Chicago mayor's office years ago, is one of the president-elect's closest friends and advisers. Her name has been floated for several top administration jobs. But Obama settled on the senior adviser role, said a person close to the president-elect and willing to speak only on background because the decision has not been officially announced. A White House senior adviser can handle a range of duties. President George W. Bush's top political aide Karl Rove held the title in the current administration.
	Jon Favreau
Speechwriter	Behind a president defined more by his oratory than any political figure in a generation is chief speechwriter Jon Favreau, whose work with Obama began soon after the Illinois senator arrived in Washington four years ago and who knows the president's ideas and rhythms so well that Obama has called him a mind-reader. Throughout the grueling, nearly two-year-long presidential campaign, Favreau lived a life of constant deadlines and caffeine-fueled nights, carrying Obama's 1995 autobiography, "Dreams From My Father," and committing to memory the 2004 Democratic convention speech that introduced Obama to the country. He now works one floor below the president, in a basement office in the West Wing. Favreau, or "Favs" to his friends and co-workers, is the second-youngest person ever to work as chief White House speechwriter. At College of the Holy Cross, a Jesuit school in Worcester, Mass., Favreau founded a volunteer project to provide support to welfare recipients, spent a semester in Washington as an intern for Kerry and delivered the valedictory address. After starting on Kerry's presidential campaign as a press assistant whose responsibilities included handling news clippings, he landed a job on the speechwriting staff in a moment of upheaval, based on the strength of his college valedictory address. Future Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs, who was on Kerry's staff, later set up a lunch meeting between Obama and Favreau shortly after the Illinois senator arrived in Washington. Disappointed and exhausted after Kerry's loss, Favreau was thinking about going to law school or trying his hand at screenwriting, said several associates. "I remember him calling me after the lunch," Porter said. "He said, 'I'm staying here. This guy's the real deal.' "
	Gregory Craig
White House Counsel Replaced By Robert Bauer	Obama selected Gregory Craig, a presidential assassin’s lawyer, as White House counsel. Craig has plenty of experience in politics as well as the courtroom, having served as Bill Clinton’s legal counsel during the impeachment hearings. Craig flipped from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama early in the primaries, and Obama has repaid his support -- but Craig’s caseload will raise a few eyebrows: Besides defending Clinton through the impeachment process, an effort that Craig lost, who else had the benefit of Craig’s counsel? John Hinckley, Jr. -- Craig presented and won the insanity defense that allows Ronald Reagan’s would-be assassin to spend weekends with his family now. Elian Gonzalez’s father -- Craig represented the father who demanded the return of his son after his estranged wife died trying to take Elian to freedom. Most people saw this as a thinly-veiled publicity stunt from Fidel Castro, attempting to embarrass the US. The dispute got resolved when Janet Reno ordered an armed assault on the house where Elian’s family in the US provided him a home. Kofi Annan -- The former Secretary-General of the UN hired Craig to defend his interests in the Volcker Commission probe of the Oil-for-Food scandal, which put billions of dollars into Saddam Hussein’s pockets while providing cash for Annan’s son, his deputies, and some allege Annan himself. Pedro Gonzalez Pinzon (Active client) -- A Panamanian legislator wanted for murdering an American soldier in 1992. The Dallas Morning News demanded that Obama force Craig to drop the case during the campaign, but no report of whether he did is easily available. I doubt that any President has selected the defender of a presidential assassin as White House Counsel before now.