Martin Longman at Washington Monthly wrote a thought-provoking commentary posing the question of what a Sanders administration might look like in terms of staffing and cabinet appointments. In a nutshell, he posits that Clinton has a deep bench of potential appointments drawn from her political alliances and associates, while we have very little on which to speculate who Sanders might tap for key positions. Thus, I’m challenging Sanders supporters or anybody else to fill out a list of credible candidates for Cabinet Secretaries.
In my opinion, secretaries have to have four key qualifications:
1. Experts in their field
2. High-level leadership and management experience
3. Political skills — being charisma, capital and connections among stakeholders
4. Able to be confirmed, i.e. not overly partisan nor ideological
In the case of a Sanders administration, I would add one more qualification — that they not be a part of the political or Democratic establishment.
So, with those rules in mind, let’s play the game by filling in the blanks for some of the key positions:
- Secretary of State ________________________.
- Treasury _________________________________.
- Defense _________________________________.
- Attorney General ________________________.
- Commerce _______________________________.
- Energy ___________________________________.
- EPA Chief ________________________________.
- Homeland Security ______________________.
- U.N. Ambassador ________________________.
- Small Business __________________________.
- OMB ____________________________________.
- Chief of Staff ____________________________. (non-confirming)