Rumor Mill: Eric Holder for Attorney General
There are strong hints that Eric Holder could be the next Attorney General for the Obama administration. Holder is (by now unsuprisingly) a veteran from the Clinton administration. His qualifications are apparent:
Mr. Holder served as a federal prosecutor, a trial court judge, and United States attorney for the District of Columbia before becoming the top-ranking aide to Attorney General Janet Reno in 1997.
The biggest objection to Mr. Holder will be that he did not object to the presidential pardon of corrupt financer Marc Rich. This does not sound like the sort of thing that will be an impediment for the job.
Reportedly the Obama team doesn’t want to officially announce another major post before Treasury Secretary. Some sources say that Holder is a sure bet for the post, while others insist no final decision has yet been made.
Interested, it’s a bit of a lose-lose situation for Obama really. He has a choice, either new, fresh people with fresh ideas but little experience or seasoned insiders with a lot of experience but with all the cynicism and checkered pasts all Washington insiders have.
It seems clear that team Obama assessed the gravity of the situation and decided that they couldn’t have a team that needed a few months to learn the ropes. They seem to have decided that the need people who can hit the ground running. I wish there could be more new people too, but I do get the urgency of the issues.
An interesting though purely academic question is how different the cabinet would be if Clinton had won the nomination and then the election? No way of knowing for sure, but I suspect not all that different. I suspect Holder wouldn’t have gotten this job though. He was a Clinton guy, but he endorsed Obama very early on, and you know how the Clintons get about that sort of thing.
no it’s not a lose-lose. It’s a choice every president has made since a cabinet was formed. He picked the route George Bush took when he entered office.
and he also ran on change. but it is funny now how once Obama got elected - the masses that felt we needed change are quite willing to forget the entire change - thing.
I’m hoping Obama does appoint some new faces among the mix. We’ve onyl heard about few Cabinet positions, thus far.