Who do you think is the best of Obama's cabinet selections and the worst?

[WI_DEM]

Here are all the nominees, so far, Commerce is still open:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/07/politics/main4583057.shtml

My favorites:
Hilda Solis (Labor)
Shaun Donovan (HUD)
Arne Duncan (Education)
Janet Napolitano (Homeland Security)
I don't consider these four "old hands" but highly competent new people who understand their new duties and have experience.

Least Favorite:
Robert Gates (Defense)yes, he's better than Rummy, but that isn't saying much.
Ray LaHood (Transportation) Mass Transit and transportation issues should be a big issue in this administration and I'm not sure LaHood is the guy to run handle them.

[SteppingRazor]

1. Best are Hilda Solis, Steven Chu and Gen. Shinseki. Worst...

are Timothy Geithner and Robert Gates, though if we expand it from the cabinet, I'd also mention Denny Blair as National Intelligence Director.

[blue_onyx]

2. I'm not sure I have a favorite

but I agree with your least favorites. I don't like that he included Republicans. They lost and had they won, they certainly wouldn't have appointed Democrats.

[yardwork]

3. Leon Panetta is one of my favorites so far.

Donovan is good for HUD.

I agree with your two least favorite plus I'm really disgusted with Tim Kaine for DNC chair and I think it's a mistake to give Larry Summers access to anything involving, well, anything really, but especially not finance.

[onehandle]

4. Clinton, best. Gates, worst, but will be there only until Wes Clark is eligible. nt

[leftstreet]

5. We're fucked with his Wall Street 'Team of Rubins'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-kuttner/team-of-rubins_b_145879.html

Robert Kuttner: Team of Rubins

As progressives, we can view President-Elect Obama's emerging economic team in one of two ways. Either he has disappointed us by picking a group of Clinton retreads--the very people who brought us the deregulation that produced the financial collapse; the fiscal conservatives who in the 1990s put budget balance ahead of rebuilding public institutions. Or we can conclude that he has very shrewdly named a team of technically competent centrists so that he can govern as a progressive in pragmatist's clothing--as he moves the political center to the left.

Which will it be? Certainly, Obama's press notices are phenomenal, and Republicans have almost been more enthusiastic than Democrats. When Arianna Huffington and I debated George Will and David Brooks on George Stephanopulos's This Week Sunday morning, the conservatives were, if anything, more approving of Obama's picks than we were.

On another channel, Republican guru Ed Rollins could be heard exulting about the Obama cabinet. I even had the out-of-body experience of debating Pat Buchanan on Hardball, to find that he thought Hillary Clinton was a terrific choice for Secretary of State. Obama now has the highest approval ratings on record for any president-elect, and he has the entire Republican pundit class in a swoon.

x(

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

6. Well, I like his choice of Caligula for Health and Human Services...

...but I think he could have done a lot better than Hitler for Transportation. We all know Mussolini made the damn trains run on time.

[wryter2000]

7. I love yours

I'm happy about what I'm hearing about the DOJ appointments. I also like Leon Panetta. I don't want anyone who's had anything to do with the CIA in the last 8 years in charge there.

[closeupready]

8. Best: Napolitano. Worst: Emanuel - not in the sense that he is

not competent, but in the sense that I just don't like his connection with the Clintons.

[gratuitous]

9. Still waiting for my call

Come on, Barack! The office of Secretary of Funk isn't going to run itself.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

10. I like your favorites...

but would add Salazar and Vilsac to the least favorite -- Salazar is no environmentalist and The Sac loves Monsanto a bit too much for my taste.

[Phoonzang]

11. Best : Chu Worst......

I'll wait to see what he does with the position NASA administrator.