Create Your Own Cabinet "Dream Team"

[QUENTIN]

Hi, new here. Thought this would be a fun way to start off on a board for those who pay close attention to politics.

So, for better or worse Obama is our next president. So far he's chosen Hillary, Daschle, Emanuel, Holder, Gates, and almost exclusively other establishment Washington figures to fill his cabinet.

What if you got to pick instead? Let's imagine you had the opportunity to select an ideal group to help run the country, anyone alive who you think would be perfect to perform in each appointed capacity.

We'll leave Pres and VP as they are since they're elected positions (but feel free to make his cabinet nothing but neo-cons, libertarians, or Greens if that's what you think is best) and leave every appointable position on the table.

Who would you choose?

My picks:

Secretary of State: Jesse Jackson
Secretary of Treasury: Amartya Sen
Secretary of Defense: Gen. Anthony Zinni
Deputy: Col. Paul Hughes
Secretary of Peace (create): Dennis Kucinich
Attorney General: Glenn Greenwald
National Security Advisor: Richard Clarke
Secretary of the Interior: Al Gore
Secretary of Agriculture: Robert Bergland
Secretary of Commerce: Ralph Nader
Secretary of Labor: Richard Trumka
Secretary of Health and Human Services: Quentin Young
Secretary of Education: Alfie Kohn
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Jimmy Carter
Secretary of Transportation: David Mongan
Secretary of Energy: Mike Gravel
Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Camila Mejia
Secretary of Homeland Security (dismantle)
Chief of Staff: Robert Wexler
Senior Advisor to the President: Noam Chomsky
CEA Advisor: Barbara Boxer
EPA Admin: Bill McKibben
Director of Management and Budget Office: Russ Feingold
Drug Czar: Jack Cole
Trade Rep: Joseph Stiglitz
Press Secretary: Bill Moyers
UN Ambassador: Bill Richardson


Supreme Court Appointments: Nadine Strossen, Jonathan Turley, Laurence Tribe

 

[Andrew2382]

stopped reading at jesse Jackson

 

[DiamondDave]

Pretty much.... Jesse Jackson is a fucking joke

Then following that up with creating a "Secretary of Peace", having a position for Al 'Carbon Credit Scam' Gore, putting the worst President in recent US history in Jimmy Carter associated with anything, dismantling homeland security, and thinking Barbara Boxer can do anything... that just made it fucking laughable

 

[NOBama]

stopped reading at jesse Jackson

When I saw JJ as SOS I had to check to see if this thread was on the Humor board, but it's not

 

[QUENTIN]

stopped reading at jesse Jackson

He may be a controversial figure here, but from being a prominent and important leader of the civil rights movement he has gained immense popularity internationally (with the possible exception of Israel, who we already have closer ties to than any other country so that wouldn't be an issue).

Most importantly, he has a record of being a master negotiator with foreign heads of state, even those generally very unfriendly nations opposed to cooperation with the U.S.

He was able to convince the Syrian government in 1983 to release an American held hostage. In '99 he met with Slobodan Milosevic and secured the release of three Americans being held hostage there when no one else could. He's popular throughout Africa and South America, has met cordially with Chavez, and Middle Eastern leaders are more open to diplomacy with Jackson than a hawkish inside the beltway figure.

He's also been right about our major foreign policy mistakes from the start (Vietnam, Nicaragua, Iraq, etc) and is known as a peaceful man without being a "pacifist" that some might try to bully.

On all the matters that a Secretary of State must be skilled, Jackson's a good choice. He'd be very unpopular among a huge group of the U.S. populace who think he and Sharpton should just "shut up," but a Secretary of State needs to be well-respected among the international community more than they need to be loved here.

What's your justification for his being such a terrible pick that it was impossible to continue reading?

 

[QUENTIN]

Oh, so all of you so far are just modern "conservatives" who think anyone who supports actual liberty and equality should be banned from wielding power?

 

[QUENTIN]

Pretty much.... Jesse Jackson is a fucking joke

Then following that up with creating a "Secretary of Peace", having a position for Al 'Carbon Credit Scam' Gore, putting the worst President in recent US history in Jimmy Carter associated with anything, dismantling homeland security, and thinking Barbara Boxer can do anything... that just made it fucking laughable

The idea that Jimmy Carter, the only president in 60 years who might not be guilty of war crimes, is "the worst president in recent US history" is so laughable and indefensible I couldn't match it if I tried for the rest of my days.

You oppose a Department of Peace? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you're a supporter of strong national defense though, right? Explain how on Earth perpetual war is a good thing and peace is worthy of derision.

You're so obviously an uncritically thinking right-wing reactionary I'm not even sure the point.

I abhor ad hominem arguments and I'm very open to reasoned debate and discussion (it's what I joined to have) but they're predicated upon stated, rational justification for your positions. "They're a liberal OMG they suck so hard hahahaha" is not that.

And while people are free to comment on my choices, the point was for people to list their own ideal cabinets. If my picks are so terrible, illustrate that with better appointments of your own. Who could do better?

 

[DiamondDave]

Carter is the most blundering, mistake ridden, foreign policy nightmare we have had in the Whitehouse in the 20th century and beyond... and his domestic policy was not much better than his absolutely horrid foreign policy... any defense of Carter as a good president is about as laughable as declaring Joey Lawrence as a great entertainer and thespian

And what would a little department of peace do? Support singing kumbaya to rogue nations? Promote happy thoughts? What would it do in relations that we do not already have existing with our Secretary of State and foreign ambassadors? Sounds more like a pot enduced hippie rant..

The principle charge of our federal government is our national defense, and a strong one... hence the necessity for a secretary of defense... preparing for attacks, planning for possible entanglements with our enemies, funding and supplying our military

 

[Navy1960]

Hi, new here. Thought this would be a fun way to start off on a board for those who pay close attention to politics.

So, for better or worse Obama is our next president. So far he's chosen Hillary, Daschle, Emanuel, Holder, Gates, and almost exclusively other establishment Washington figures to fill his cabinet.

What if you got to pick instead? Let's imagine you had the opportunity to select an ideal group to help run the country, anyone alive who you think would be perfect to perform in each appointed capacity.

We'll leave Pres and VP as they are since they're elected positions (but feel free to make his cabinet nothing but neo-cons, libertarians, or Greens if that's what you think is best) and leave every appointable position on the table.

Who would you choose?

My picks:

Secretary of State: Jesse Jackson
Secretary of Treasury: Amartya Sen
Secretary of Defense: Gen. Anthony Zinni
Deputy: Col. Paul Hughes
Secretary of Peace (create): Dennis Kucinich
Attorney General: Glenn Greenwald
National Security Advisor: Richard Clarke
Secretary of the Interior: Al Gore
Secretary of Agriculture: Robert Bergland
Secretary of Commerce: Ralph Nader
Secretary of Labor: Richard Trumka
Secretary of Health and Human Services: Quentin Young
Secretary of Education: Alfie Kohn
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Jimmy Carter
Secretary of Transportation: David Mongan
Secretary of Energy: Mike Gravel
Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Camila Mejia
Secretary of Homeland Security (dismantle)
Chief of Staff: Robert Wexler
Senior Advisor to the President: Noam Chomsky
CEA Advisor: Barbara Boxer
EPA Admin: Bill McKibben
Director of Management and Budget Office: Russ Feingold
Drug Czar: Jack Cole
Trade Rep: Joseph Stiglitz
Press Secretary: Bill Moyers
UN Ambassador: Bill Richardson


Supreme Court Appointments: Nadine Strossen, Jonathan Turley, Laurence Tribe

While I respect your opinion, most of the names on here would be an unmitigated disaster in the positions that your would have them placed in. In fact Mr. Richardson is up for Commerce Sec. much to the delight of the the Chinese I am sure as during his tenure at the Clinton Administration Chinese missile technology got a really big boost from Los Alamos Natl. Labs in N.M. As for Richard Clarke I will let his words speak for himself,

On March 24, 2004, Clarke testified at the public 9/11 Commission hearings.[5] At the outset of his testimony Clarke offered an apology to the families of 9/11 victims and an acknowledgment that the government had failed: "I also welcome the hearings because it is finally a forum where I can apologize to the loved ones of the victims of 9/11...", "To the loved ones of the victims of 9/11, to them who are here in this room, to those who are watching on television, your government failed you. Those entrusted with protecting you failed you. And I failed you. We tried hard, but that doesn't matter because we failed. And for that failure, I would ask, once all the facts are out, for your understanding and for your forgiveness."

Al Gore is a complete joke and as I pointed out in another thread he is in the environmental business and I do mean business. So to put him in charge of the the Interior would be like putting the Fox in charge of the hen house. I'm sure he would be able to make even more money with his London based Carbon trading firm being in that position. Jimmy Carter well, no words are needed there , perhaps the housing thing might be a good thing for him though as he has IMO done very well with his housing charity but by no means should he come anywhere near anything that resembles foreign policy. I could keep going but again, thank you for the posting and welcome to the board.

 

[Skull Pilot]

 

[QUENTIN]

Carter is the most blundering, mistake ridden, foreign policy nightmare we have had in the Whitehouse in the 20th century and beyond... and his domestic policy was not much better than his absolutely horrid foreign policy... any defense of Carter as a good president is about as laughable as declaring Joey Lawrence as a great entertainer and thespian

And what would a little department of peace do? Support singing kumbaya to rogue nations? Promote happy thoughts? What would it do in relations that we do not already have existing with our Secretary of State and foreign ambassadors? Sounds more like a pot enduced hippie rant..

The principle charge of our federal government is our national defense, and a strong one... hence the necessity for a secretary of defense... preparing for attacks, planning for possible entanglements with our enemies, funding and supplying our military

Carter was a terrible president, just like every other president has been, because he did not uphold the Constitution or ensure the individual liberty of the people he was elected to lead. So I would never defend him as a "good president" and agree such a defense would be laughable. But he is still the only president since the onset of WWII for whom a reasonable case can be made that he isn't a war criminal. For that alone, his foreign policy was better than any president in 60+ years. I know he's a democrat and it seems to you that means he's evil (I'm very anti-democrat too), but his post-presidential advocacy and activism for the poor and their plight and particularly his national housing program, coupled with executive experience, make him the ideal candidate for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Issues like his foreign policy as president, whether we disagree on it or not, are completely moot in that cabinet position.

Kucinich has been a proponent of creating a Department of Peace and this is a snippet from his explanation of the roles and responsibilities such a department would have:

"The Department of Peace and Nonviolence would serve to promote non-violence as an organizing principle in our society, and help to create the conditions for a more peaceful world.

Domestically, the Department would be responsible for developing policies which address issues such as domestic violence, child abuse, and mistreatment of the elderly. Internationally, the Department would analyze foreign policy and make recommendations to the President on matters pertaining to national security, including the protection of human rights and the prevention and de-escalation of unarmed and armed international conflict.

The Department would also have an Office of Peace Education that would work with educators in elementary, secondary and universities in the development and implementation of curricula to instruct students in peaceful conflict resolution skills. In addition, a Peace Academy, modeled after the military service academies, would be established to provide instruction in peace education and offer opportunities for graduates to serve in programs dedicated to domestic or international nonviolent conflict resolution."

For a full explanation and breakdown visit Kucnich's house web page.

Generally having a Secretary of Defense as a key cabinet member promotes militarism and bloodshed, a Secretary of Peace and cabinet level Department of Peace would counterbalance that by promoting non-violent alternatives. The answer to most international conflicts has been "We'll kill some of or a lot of them and bomb some of their stuff" and when the Secretary of War became the Secretary of Defense, the change was purely nominal. A Secretary of Peace would offer well-researched, investigated, government funded methods of resolving disputes diplomatically and without loss of human life.

Most importantly, you could not be more wrong and need to read your Declaration of Independence and Constitution. The principle charge of our government is to ensure and protect the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness for every American. NOT to engage in warfare abroad or even to protect us from outside attack, the former of which is discouraged and the latter of which is one small element of what it is tasked with in order to preserve the three tenets of what it exists for. The government's sole reason for existence is to better facilitate its citizens personal freedom and happy lives, to better our circumstances, not to build as many tanks and bombs as it can scrounge funding for. You fundamentally don't understand why our country exists you're so blinded by your hawkishness.

 

[QUENTIN]

Navy1980, you point out one of the key reasons Clarke would be a good choice and present it as a negative.

EVERYONE in our government tasked in any way with defense and security failed us in allowing 9/11 to happen. From the president down. Clarke is the only one who admitted and apologized for his culpability there, despite the fact that he is one of the least responsible since he repeatedly warned Rumsfeld, Rice, Cheney, and Bush about the growing risk of a homeland attack by Al-Qaeda. They ignored him, actually said they didn't want to hear anymore of his "nonsense" only months prior to 9/11/01.

Clarke was the author of the infamous memo "Bin Laden Determined to Strike Within U.S." that Rice had to testify to ignoring. The reason he failed was because the people above him ignored him when he knew we were in danger and tried to protect us. He still apologized because he should have done more when the risks were that high, but I think it's safe to say he learned from his mistakes and has a history of recognizing and reporting grave threats. He'd be a very solid NSA.

 

[Trhay15]

Hi, new here. Thought this would be a fun way to start off on a board for those who pay close attention to politics.

So, for better or worse Obama is our next president. So far he's chosen Hillary, Daschle, Emanuel, Holder, Gates, and almost exclusively other establishment Washington figures to fill his cabinet.

What if you got to pick instead? Let's imagine you had the opportunity to select an ideal group to help run the country, anyone alive who you think would be perfect to perform in each appointed capacity.

We'll leave Pres and VP as they are since they're elected positions (but feel free to make his cabinet nothing but neo-cons, libertarians, or Greens if that's what you think is best) and leave every appointable position on the table.

Who would you choose?

My picks:

Secretary of State: Carly Fiorina
Secretary of Treasury: Donald Trump
Secretary of Defense: Michele Bachmann
Deputy: Gen. James Mattis
Secretary of Peace (create): Joni Ernst
Attorney General: Jeanine Pirro
National Security Advisor: KT MacFarland
Secretary of the Interior: Susana Martinez
Secretary of Agriculture: Chuck Grassley
Secretary of Commerce: Maria Cantwell
Secretary of Labor: Elaine Chao
Secretary of Health and Human Services: Jim Gilmore
Secretary of Education: Elisabeth DeVos
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Tom Price
Secretary of Transportation: Logan Forrester
Secretary of Energy: Sydney Meyers
Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Gen. David Petraeus
Secretary of Homeland Security: Mary Fallin
Chief of Staff: Andrew Ames
Senior Advisor to the President: Me
CEA Advisor: Amanda Trojanowski
EPA Admin: Bill McKibben
Director of Management and Budget Office:
Drug Czar: Jack Cole
Trade Rep: Chris Christie
Press Secretary: Karyn Polito
UN Ambassador: Bill Richardson


Supreme Court Appointments: Nadine Strossen, Jonathan Turley, Laurence Tribe

 

[basquebromance]

Secretary of State: James Mad Dog Mattis
Secretary of Treasury: Jeb Hensarling
Secretary of Defense: Tom Cotton
Secretary of Peace Dennis Kucinich
Attorney General: Chris Christie
National Security Advisor: Michael Flynn
Secretary of Education: Crazy Bernie Sanders
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Low Energy Ben Carson
Secretary of Energy: Crazy Sarah Palin
Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Crazy Joe Biden
Director of Management and Budget Office: Sexy Paul Ryan
Drug Czar: Bill Maher
Trade Rep: Rex Tillerson
Press Secretary: Sean Hannity
Supreme Court Appointments: Lyin Ted Cruz, Dashing Jeff Sessions

 

[easyt65]

I would select Hillary as my US Ambassador to Benghazi, station her in the same compound Stevens died in, and give the same number of security personnel she left him with - AFTER she took some away after the 2 terrorist attacks right before 9/11/12.