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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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 Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 1:34 am Post subject: Obama says would include Republicans in cabinet |
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081030/pl_nm/us_usa_politics_obama_transition;_ylt=AhvURmhKOjAIHDNJ2ly1j9RsnwcF
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SUNRISE, Florida (Reuters) � U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Wednesday he would include Republicans in his Cabinet if he wins the election.
Obama, a Democratic senator from Illinois, also said he had "some pretty good ideas" about people he might tap for senior government jobs, though he emphasized he is focused for now on the final days of the campaign and takes nothing for granted.
"There is a transition process -- that I'm not paying attention to on a day-to-day basis -- but that has been set up," Obama told ABC News in an interview.
Obama said he "absolutely" considered it important to have Republicans in the Cabinet but he sidestepped a question on whether he would ask Defense Secretary Robert Gates to remain in his job. There has been speculation that either Obama or his Republican rival, John McCain, might ask Gates to stay on.
"I'm not going to get into details," Obama said, but he added that national security policy, in particular, should be nonpartisan.
Other people mentioned as possible defense secretary picks in an Obama administration include former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig and Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican senator from Nebraska.
Some analysts have speculated that during the transition period between November 4 and January 20, when a successor to President George W. Bush will take office, the new president-elect would move quickly to fill key jobs such as Treasury Secretary, Defense Secretary and Secretary of State.
Some public policy experts see a need for early announcements on such appointments in light of the global financial crisis and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
"I am not going to jump the gun on this," Obama said but he gave credit to the Bush administration for its offer to make government resources available to both candidates to begin the vetting process early.
(Reporting by Caren Bohan; editing by Todd Eastham)
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Possible defense secretary picks in an Obama administration include former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig and Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican senator from Nebraska.
That is worth a discussion...I like Hagel. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:37 am Post subject: |
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Obama is the sort of person who has thought about this for months and no doubt has a very short list for each position in his back pocket. I don't think he leaves much to the last minute.
Naturally it's a good idea to have members of the other party on board. Clinton did it with success.
The problem I see with Obama's penchant for bipartisanship is that it would help if the other team also had people thinking the same way. For 40 years we've had the politics of division and fear, intensified lately. McCain himself was the most likely Republican to be open to Obama's ideas. Now we've had weeks of deliberately stirring up racial fear and bigotry.
It might be very difficult for Obama to find anyone who wants to work with him because they could be afraid of their own party. |
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Milwaukiedave
Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Location: Goseong
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:45 am Post subject: |
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| Speculating certainly would jump the gun since there hasn't been an election yet. If he wins, I'm sure that he will ask some Republicans to join the cabinet. |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 3:11 am Post subject: |
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| keep your friends close, your enemies closer... |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 4:58 am Post subject: |
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A Republican SecDef would be a disaster.
The Dems have a chance to redeem their image on Defense. If they appoint another Republican SecDef, they'll just be abdicating the opportunity. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 5:03 am Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
| A Republican SecDef would be a disaster. |
In an Obama Administration premised on "change?" Agreed.
This sounds like a desperate, last-minute campaign tactic to win moderates and undecideds. I thought B. Obama had this election wrapped up and it was going to be a landslide...? |
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Marc Ravalomanana
Joined: 15 May 2007
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 5:58 am Post subject: |
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| Gopher wrote: |
| I thought B. Obama had this election wrapped up and it was going to be a landslide...? |
Nope.
The race is "tightening," as it always does, and it is tightening damn fast, and will certainly continue to do so the next 6 days. Obama still has a chance, but his path to victory is getting narrower every day. |
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kingplaya4
Joined: 14 May 2006
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 8:41 am Post subject: |
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| The Republicans don't give any gestures of bipartisanship, so I say, why should we if we win? |
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laogaiguk
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: somewhere in Korea
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 8:51 am Post subject: |
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| kingplaya4 wrote: |
| The Republicans don't give any gestures of bipartisanship, so I say, why should we if we win? |
Because it isn't about winning ! What a horrible response. The person who would be best suited for the job should be in there, whether Republican or Democrat. And it's usually good to have a differing voice around anyway.
The American system sucks (though not as bad as our stupid Canadian one). |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 9:04 am Post subject: |
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| kingplaya4 wrote: |
| The Republicans don't give any gestures of bipartisanship, so I say, why should we if we win? |
J. McCain pledged to appoint Democrats in his cabinet weeks ago. |
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newteacher
Joined: 31 May 2007
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 3:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Gopher wrote: |
| Kuros wrote: |
| A Republican SecDef would be a disaster. |
In an Obama Administration premised on "change?" Agreed.
This sounds like a desperate, last-minute campaign tactic to win moderates and undecideds. I thought B. Obama had this election wrapped up and it was going to be a landslide...? |
Jesus Gopher could you be any more cynical?
I don't think it's a last minute ploy to get votes, I think he actually wants to be a good president and realizes in order to do that he'll need to get consensus on a lot of things regardless of who controls congress. Didn't Lincoln appoint one of his biggest political enemies to a cabinet position? |
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head-in-the-clouds
Joined: 14 Oct 2008
Location: London for now
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 3:19 pm Post subject: |
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| George W Bush for Foreign Secretary? |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 3:24 pm Post subject: |
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| laogaiguk wrote: |
The American system sucks (though not as bad as our stupid Canadian one). |
What's a model system? I'm just wondering where you set the bar. |
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Jandar
Joined: 11 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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One reason to fill a cabinet post with an opposition incumbent is to vacate a seat in one of the legislative bodies, in most cases the vacated seat is filled by appointment of the governor, so you can nominate a repub from a state that has a dem gov and change tha balance in the senate.
Who was the last SecDef that was a dem? |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 4:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Jandar wrote: |
One reason to fill a cabinet post with an opposition incumbent is to vacate a seat in one of the legislative bodies, in most cases the vacated seat is filled by appointment of the governor, so you can nominate a repub from a state that has a dem gov and change tha balance in the senate.
Who was the last SecDef that was a dem? |
Jandar, that's an excellent point. I think Obama should appoint a Republican or two. But not as SecDef.
William Perry was the last Dem SecDef. He was succeeded by William Cohen (R-ME). |
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