The Hillary to State speculation drew most of the attention this weekend, but there was some Energy news. The AP is reporting that New Jersey Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa Jackson has been named to the Obama-Biden transition team on Energy.Jackson joins Robert Sussman, a former deputy Environmental Protection Agency administrator, and 11 others. They will conduct a department review to provide Obama and key advisers with information they need to make policy, budgetary and personnel decisions prior to the inauguration.Per the Obama transition site, Jackson has been named a Team Lead for the EPA Review. Other Team Leads include Cecilia V. Estolano, CEO of the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles, and Robert Sussman, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.
Some did play the cabinet parlor game this weekend: in the pages of Newsweek, Slate.com's Jacob Weisberg lobbies for Al Gore to become Energy Secretary.
The genius principle should also be applied to the lesser agencies, where many of the names being trotted out have a dreary, box-checking quality to them. Obama says transitioning to renewable fuel sources is his second-highest priority after saving the economy. So why not talk the brilliant, socially awkward Al Gore into taking the job of energy secretary? Following the anonymous Samuel W. Bodman might seem like a demotion for the former vice president and Nobel Prize winner, but it would give Gore a chance to accomplish his life's mission by addressing climate change—and make up for his neglect of the issue when he was vice president.Overseas, Kostis Geropoulos from New Europe, asks, "Why not make him [Arnold Schwarzenegger] Secretary of Energy?"
Click here for more NNN coverage on who will be in the Obama Cabinet.
Comments
http://djysrv.blogspot.com/2008/11/energy-secretary-guessing-game.html
The best choice for the Secretary of Energy is an odd one. You want someone who is committed to environmental protection, sustainability, and energy reduction. You need someone who knows how to interact easily with the political world and the business world. You need someone who understands energy use of business, transporation, and residential. And you need someone who knows how to lead a large / diverse organization. The best pick would honestly be Lee Scott, recently retired CEO of Wal-Mart. Look at his record on sustainability, ask yourself who knows how to work with businesses to get them to take action, ask yourself who has relations with guys like T. Boone and Al Gore, and finally ask yourself who was able to work well with local, state, and national governments on natural disasters from forest fires to hurricanes.
I am not sure the Obama administration will have the ability / courage to choose him due to the fear from the unions and negative view of Wal-Mart. But, then ask yourself who has the most energy efficient new stores (Wal-Mart), ask yourself who has the most energy efficient trucking fleet (Wal-Mart) and who has a large fleet of leased Hybrid's (Wal-Mart).
If you truly want the US to be in a better place on energy in four years, pick the person able to truly drive the results. Pick Lee.