Obama's Cabinet: Not Much Yet for the GOP
— John Martin
I'm still not jumping to conclusions, but these positions are going fast. Barack the Uniter is going to get a big strike against him if he doesn't fill any of the remaining slots with a Republican. That's not a threat, just a promise from a supporter. Personally, I see these appointments as largely symbolic, but the symbolism is going to be important if Obama still wants a different kind of presidency.
Keeping Bob Gates is good, but having him as our party's only representative in a cabinet-level position would still leave Obama open to a lot of criticism. It's almost as if Barack has to keep Gates; after un-doing Rumsfeld's years of missteps, it wouldn't seem to make sense for him to be rotated out with an unknown quantity right now.
The good news (for Republicans and conservatives) is that Obama's choices have overall been pretty solid and centrist up to this point. Someone like Robert Kennedy Jr. might be put at EPA, but Orszag, Cleland and Emanuel aren't exactly flaming liberals.
