To Me Obama's Attorney General Pick is more important than Sec. of State

[Ichingcarpenter]

The State Department wasn't ever corrupted nearly as badly as the Attorney General's office.
Career Diplomats and civil servants have shown over the years a hidden resistance to Bush's
policies. I think Hillary will be fine and do well if she is the pick after complete vetting and
I believe she will serve President Obama's vision for a new foreign policy. If he picks any
other of the names mentioned, they will do fine also.


Secretary of State is ususally one of the most important picks but after Bush's ransacking
of Justice, which let it be an arm of corporations, the religious right, anti- environmentalist, Liberty
University, illegal spying and wire tapping, helping justify torture and other crimes against the constitution,
his choice of Attorney General will tell me a lot more than his pick of Secretary of State.

I wished he just would get rid of the Homeland Security, rename it and take away its totalitarian powers.

Just my two cents.

[Triana]

1. He does need to obliterate "homeland security" or at least get FEMA the hell out from under it...

...FEMA does belong under such a behemoth of a bureaucracy.

[WI_DEM]

2. They are all important selections.

[TexasObserver]

3. Granholm!!

[Ichingcarpenter]

4. I wouldn't be an opponent if she was chosen but I really want a Muckraker

at least in second in command, to go after the crimes of the bushies, because if that cancer is not investigated and litigated in the halls of Justice it will return one day with even more strength and spread throughout the body.

[TexasObserver]

5. I think Obama will focus on undoing the Bush mess, without going after Bushies

That's his style, looking forward.

I think he will want to make our voting more secure and more open, for example, without rehashing too much the 2000 and 2004 debacles.

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. I can't see that as moving forward by ignoring crimes

He can bring them to justice without looking vengeful.
“Justice denied anywhere diminishes justice everywhere.”

[leftynyc]

6. I agree with you, although

he needs to pick a Treasury Secretary fairly quickly. It may put people's mind's (and Wall Street's) at ease. The market doesn't like uncertainty.

[Ichingcarpenter]

8. Oh, I think he'll pick Treasury before SOS myself

or within two days of each other. I'm not talking about what cabinet office he picks first
but what office which is important to me. There was talk yesterday of Bush giving blanket pardons
without even siting names or crimes. So that's another reason that this office is important.

[leftynyc]

9. Oh - I agree that AG is extremely important

I was referring to the speed at which Treasury needs to be picked. Is there any historical precedent on blanket pardons? I don't ever remember them?

[Jennicut]

10. Agreed. He needs a good AG.

[bertman]

11. I disagree in a BIG way with your statement that State wasn't corrupted as badly as the AG.

Do you remember the runup to the Iraq War? Do you remember the Coalition Provisional Authority? That should have been a function of the State Department, but Bremer was taking his orders from Rumsfeld but SHOULD HAVE BEEN under the direction of the State Dept.

What has happened with our efforts to broker a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

What has happened with our efforts to win the respect of governments around the world?

It's the Secretary of State who makes these efforts happen. A strong one is influential. A weak one is Condoleeza Rice.

The AG and the Sec of State are equally important. We need top-notch people in both jobs.

[Perky]

12. Agreed. That is why Janet Napolitanao would be a great choice,

Ashcroft and Gonzo shreaded the USAs by politiicizing the whole function of the what is supposed to be an agency that is beyong reproach on the issue of particanship.

ONLY a former USA understands how this has affected departmental morale.