Posted by
Always To The Right on Thursday, November 06, 2008 12:47:33 PM
Over the last few administrations, presidents have chosen a token
appointment to their cabinets in order to put a veneer of
bipartisanship on their policies. Ronald Reagan appointed
then-Democrat Bill Bennett as Secretary of Education. Bill Clinton
gave William Cohen the substantial portfolio of Defense, but only in
his second term. George W. Bush had Norman Mineta at Transportation
for over five years. Now speculation begins as to whether Barack Obama will appoint a Republican to his Cabinet, and who it might be
Other than that, though, the possibilities seem limited. In his first appointment, Obama selected a hard-nosed partisan cheap-shot artist
as his Chief of Staff. It’s difficult to see Rahm Emanuel playing in
the sandbox with Republicans well enough to give many of them a comfort
level in joining his team. That appointment sets an unfortunate tone
for the future of postpartisanship in the incoming Obama administration.
I’d expect to see no more than two Republicans in the Cabinet, and
Gates would likely be one of them. Candidates for other positions
would probably be limited to outright “Obamacans” or those hostile to
the Bush administration