Scuttlebutt update

Thu, 11/06/2008 - 3:09pm

For those of us eager for any scraps of news about top posts in the Obama administration, Helene Cooper has the latest Washington gossip. As Cooper notes, "mentioning someone for a top job usually guarantees that they won't get it." A further caveat is that those who know, don't talk, and those who talk, don't know. With that, Cooper's lists:

Secretary of Defense: Bob Gates, Chuck Hagel, Dick Lugar, Jack Reed

Secretary of State: John Kerry, Richard Holbrooke, Bill Richardson, Gen. James L. Jones

National Security Advisor: Jim Steinberg, Greg Craig, Dennis Ross (Susan Rice is thought more likely to be a deputy or become ambassador to the U.N.)

CIA: Tony Lake, if he wants it

According to George Stephanapolous, Robert Gibbs is reportedly a lock for press secretary; David Axelrod will be some sort of senior advisor in the White House; and of course Rahm Emanuel has just agreed to become chief of staff.

And finally, the WSJ publishes the full list of transition team members.

Blake Hounshell | Permalink | | Comments? Login or register
( filed under: )


Advertisement

 

Susan Rice = Rwanda

by Lure D. Lou on Thu, 11/06/2008 - 11:50pm

Before anybody plugs Susan Rice into the new team they should remember that it was she who wondered aloud how action or inaction in Rwanda might play in the mid-term congressional elections in '94. We know that she came down on the side of inaction and 800,000 died.

She has since made verbal amends...but how do you wipe so much blood off your hands? (And btw, how can Bill Clinton still look at himelf in the mirror?) People think Monica was his big moral failing....afraid not...not even close compared to Rwanda. (His crocodile tears at the Kigali airport add up to exactly nothing.)

Windfall profits tax returns

by jgarzik on Fri, 11/07/2008 - 7:15am

Skimming Obama's info site change.gov, I surfed over to their page on Revitalizing the Economy, wherein I spied the return of the oil windfall tax:

Enact a Windfall Profits Tax to Provide a $1,000 Emergency Energy Rebate to American Families: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will enact a windfall profits tax on excessive oil company profits to give American families an immediate $1,000 emergency energy rebate to help families pay rising bills. [...]

[emphasis theirs]

One wonders if this was written before the economic crisis, some cut-n-paste boilerplate? Oil has fallen over 50% from its highs, gasoline in "metropolitan" Raleigh, NC is under $2.50/gallon, demand has fallen.

Add to that the ever-present question regarding the precise definition of "excessive", how this negatively impacts some oil company incentives to invest, and how this negatively impacts 401k's and pensions.

Jeff @ Armchair FP