Transition update

Posted By Blake Hounshell Sunday, December 7, 2008 - 10:21 AM Share

Here's the latest on Obamaland:

  • Retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki is being tapped to head the Veterans Affairs Department. A former Army chief of staff, Shinseki famously warned the U.S. Congress in February 2003 that "several hundred thousand soldiers" would be needed in Iraq.
  • Jared Bernstein, an economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, has been selected as Vice President-elect Joe Biden's economic advisor.

    "Jared Bernstein is an acclaimed economist, and a proven, passionate advocate for raising the incomes of middle class families. His expertise and background in a wide range of domestic and international economic policies will be an invaluable asset to the Obama-Biden Administration," Biden said in a statement.

    Bernstein is also a former deputy to former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. His most recent book is called Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed? (And Other Unsolved Economic Mysteries). He's a prolific commentator  -- see his Huffington Post columns here -- and a noted skeptic on free trade.
  • California Rep. Xavier Becerra is Obama's choice for U.S. Trade Representative, but he reportedly is not sure he wants the job. He's another skeptic when it come to free trade, having said he regretted his vote in favor of NAFTA and having led the opposition to CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
  • Former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski had this to say about the pick of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state: "I think if there is good strategic direction from the center, namely from the White House, and she is its executor, I would say yes. But if she is on her own and asserts her own sort of autonomy and tries to run foreign policy on her own, then I think it is legitimate to ask, well, what exactly are her strategic views, how consistent are they with the president's -- in some instances we know they were quite different -- and can she really pull it off on her own?"
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