Britannia Radio

Who’s who in the Obama cabinet

Part One Economic and budget policy

By Patrick Martin 
19 January 2009

We are here posting the first in a series of profiles of the major appointees to the cabinet and top White House staff of Barack Obama.

Timothy Geithner, treasury secretary

A career government official involved in overseeing financial markets, Geithner is one of three protégés of Clinton administration Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin (former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs and until January 9 board member and special counsel at Citigroup) who have been named to top economic and budget positions in the Obama administration. 

Lawrence Summers, director of the White House’s National Economic Council

Formerly undersecretary and then secretary of the treasury in the Clinton administration, Summers was considered the key crisis manager during the Mexican and Asian currency collapses in the late 1990s.

Paul Volcker, chairman of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board

The 82-year-old former investment banker was the key figure in the Reagan-era onslaught against the working class which, combined with the betrayals of the trade union leadership, destroyed the unions as a significant social force in the United States.

Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget

The third Robert Rubin acolyte to take a top financial position with Obama, Orszag moves over from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), where he was appointed by the new Democratic majority, elected in 2006.

Mary Schapiro, chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission

A former member of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) first appointed by Ronald Reagan, Schapiro is a classic case of an industry insider taking over a supposedly independent regulatory agency. 

Who’s who in the Obama cabinet

Part two Internal security

By Tom Eley 
20 January 2009

This is the second in a series of profiles of the major appointees to the cabinet and top White House staff of Barack Obama. Part one, "Who's who in the Obama cabinet—Economic and budget policy" was posted January 19.

Eric Holder, attorney general

While Holder is being hailed as the first African-American to hold his position, his selection does not represent a reversal of the anti-democratic policies pursued by the Justice Department under the Bush administration.

Leon Panetta, director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Panetta was a surprise selection to be the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the US spy agency and long a center of counterrevolution, because of his lack of hands-on experience in intelligence work. 

Admiral Dennis C. Blair, director of National Intelligence

Blair is one of a record four retired military officers chosen for high positions in the Obama administration, and the second Navy man in a row, following retired Vice Admiral Michael McConnell, to hold the position of DNI, created to oversee the entire intelligence establishment in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Janet Napolitano, secretary of Homeland Security

The two-term governor of Arizona, Napolitano has built a reputation for being "pro-business" and a proponent of increased militarization of the US border with Mexico, much of which lies in her state. In state politics, Napolitano supported Arizona's ban on same-sex marriages, opposed restrictions on gun ownership, and supported the death penalty. Her nomination has been warmly received by the Republican Party, with Arizona's two Republican senators, Jon Kyl and John McCain, lobbying on her behalf.

Who’s who in the Obama cabinet

Part three: National security and foreign policy

By Patrick Martin 
21 January 2009

This is the third in a series of profiles of the major appointees to the cabinet and top White House staff of Barack Obama. Part one, "Who's who in the Obama cabinet—Economic and budget policy" was posted January 19. Part two, "Who's who in the Obama cabinet - Internal security" was posted January 20.

National security and foreign policy is the area of the most obvious continuity between the Bush administration and the Obama administration. 

Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense

First selected by George W. Bush in November 2006, Gates is being retained in his post by Obama, the first time that a Pentagon chief has been held over when control of the White House has passed from one of the two US ruling parties to the other. 

Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State

It is significant that Obama selected his main rival for the Democratic presidential nomination to fill his top foreign policy post.

James Jones, National Security Adviser

A retired Marine general, Jones was commander in chief of NATO forces under the Bush administration and advised McCain (a longtime friend) during the election campaign, as well as Obama.

Susan Rice, ambassador to the United Nations

A former assistant secretary of state for African affairs in the Clinton administration, Rice (no relation to the outgoing State Department chief) is the scion of a black bourgeois family in Washington, D.C.