Who Will Obama Appoint Secretary of State?
The 44th U.S. President-elect Must Build an Experienced Cabinet
Nov 5, 2008
Speculation about who will be in line for cabinet appointments often begins early for Presidential hopefuls. In the case of President-elect Barack Obama, such guesswork has followed that tradition, developing a deep lineage in a relatively short period of time.
Early Conjecture Named Joe Biden
As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joe Biden was not a strange candidate for the Secretary of State position in a Democratic administration. Almost a year-and-a-half ago, however, when talk of his potential ambitions for that post began to draw attention, Biden had his eye on a different prize: The Presidency of the United States.
In an article written for the New York Observer in June of 2007, reporter Steve Kornacki posited that Joe Biden was effectively shut out of a serious bid for the Presidency by runners closer to the front of the pack such as Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, and even Bill Richardson. Far from viewing Biden's unlikely win of the Democratic Party's Presidential nomination as an unintentional failure, Kornacki suggested that Biden aimed to be considered for Secretary of State, a post that would highlight the Senator's abilities in foreign policy matters.
Ironically, Kornacki's assessment was less than prescient, containing as it did the following statements: "Nor can Mr. Biden plausibly position himself for the Vice Presidency...any Democratic nominee who taps Mr. Biden as his or her No. 2 would be sentenced to days of news stories about the Senator’s past brushes with plagiarism, résumé embellishment and the fragile language of racial politics. He simply wouldn’t be worth the trouble..." So much for early predictions.
Greg Craig Is A Reasonable Bet
There is a strong likelihood that President-elect Obama will draw liberally from the deep pool of past administrations' senior advisers when choosing his cabinet. That said, Greg Craig, the attorney who served as senior advisor to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and as a staffer for Senator Ted Kennedy during the mid-1980s (where he provided strong input regarding sanctions against South Africa's apartheid government), is a more than valid candidate.
Fourth In Line
In the Presidential line of succession, the U.S. Secretary of State stands just behind the Vice President, Speaker of the House, and President pro tempore of the Senate. While history has never seen that line tapped so deeply, the proximity of the Secretary's position to the President holds a firm promise of influence.
Knowledge of foreign policy is foremost on the list of qualifications required for the incoming administration's choice of Secretary of State. This key cabinet member will serve as perhaps the most influential United States ambassador to the world, barring the President himself, of course.
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