Barack Obama’s top priority will be appointing a Treasury secretary and White House chief of staff. The leading candidates: two Clinton administration stalwarts, Lawrence Summers and Representative Rahm Emanuel.
It’s unlikely the President-elect can assemble a Cabinet and staff within 10 days as some have advised, say people who have discussed this with him in recent days, all of whom asked for anonymity. Still, given the financial crisis and two wars, Obama, 47, is bound to move more quickly than either of his two predecessors in making key personnel decisions.
Summers, 53, is favoured to return to the Treasury post that he held under President Bill Clinton because Obama values his experience and familiarity with markets and global leaders, a crucial asset during the markets crisis.
Still, people close to the President-elect stress no final decision has been reached and that Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve, is also a strong contender. Geithner would also be welcomed by many in the financial community; at age 47, he would be a fresh face in an administration that ran on a mantra of change.
Obama’s first decision may be who heads his White House operation. “A president should pick a White House chief of staff first,” says Vernon Jordan, the lawyer and investment banker who ran the transition for Bill Clinton in 1992. “The chief of staff needs to be involved in the selection of other people in the government; that's the quarterback.”
Washington insider: Obama has spoken with Emanuel, the number four ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives and former Clinton White House aide, in recent weeks about the post; if asked, Emanuel is expected to accept.
ABC News, citing an unnamed source, said today that Obama offered the job to Emanuel and Emanuel has not yet responded.
Emanuel, 48, would bring an exceptional understanding of the nexus between politics and policy and of the way Washington works, critical requisites for that job.
His detractors say his tough, take-no-prisoners approach is antithetical to the tone and style of the Obama presidential campaign.
Still, if, as many expect, top campaign strategist David Axelrod and businesswoman and Obama confidant Valerie Jarrett become counsellors to the president, they would form a powerful Chicago troika running the White House.
Defence secretary: On the national security front, the first decision may be whether to ask Defence Secretary Robert Gates to remain for an interim period, a move favoured by a number of influential congressional Democrats and the military. As the new president focuses on the financial crisis, they argue, this would offer continuity.
“He's done an extraordinary job,” Senator Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, said of Gates. “I would hope that in some capacity he could continue to serve.”
If Gates isn't asked to stay, a leading candidate for Defence would be retiring Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. Hagel accompanied Obama on his trip to Afghanistan and Iraq in July, and the two have become close. The Illinois senator has said he wants a bipartisan Cabinet.
Initially, the Obama camp had hoped to have the Cabinet and White House staff picked by November 15. Several events, including a likely trip to Hawaii for the funeral of the President-elect’s grandmother, and a sense that it's important to look at the overall cohesiveness of a new administration, make this unlikely to occur until closer to Thanksgiving.
Obama needs to strike a balance, assuring that sufficient numbers of women and minorities get top jobs, experienced and fresh faces, long-time supporters and some converts, and at least a Republican or two.
