Melody! Obama Taps a Progressive and the Media Didn't Know It

[ProSense]

Melody! Obama Taps a Progressive and the Media Didn't Know It

by The Field
Mon Nov 24, 2008 at 10:02:22 AM PST

The most interesting news out of the press conference just concluded by President-elect Obama was the appointment of an unabashed progressive, Melody Barnes (in the photo, above), to head the Domestic Policy Council. Barnes will coordinate the mega-board of the Cabinet secretaries of Health and Human Services, Justice, Labor, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce, Energy, Treasury, Agriculture, Transportation, Interior and Veterans Affairs. Basically, she'll be domestic policy czar.

The other announcements were interesting, too...

Remember just a week or two ago when the conventional wisdom screeched in the language of "done deals" that President-elect Obama would nominate Lawrence Summers to the newly all-powerful role of Treasury Secretary?

It was only late last week that signals were sent that Tim Geithner - who, we learned this morning, speaks Chinese and Japanese, in addition to English - would get the nod instead. Interestingly, Geithner has never worked on Wall Street. His career has been mainly devoted to public service and not private profit. That's encouraging (and makes him quite distinct from the Robert Rubin looter-and-pillager mold that the media drones on about today).

Summers has instead been nominated to head the National Economic Council. But more interesting about today's press conference was that Obama also nominated two women to the other top economic posts that until earlier this morning nobody, but absolutely nobody, had predicted.

Melody Barnes, Domestic Policy Council served as chief counsel to Senator Ted Kennedy on the Judiciary Committee from 1985 to 1993. Want to get an idea of how progressive she is? Read this: In January of 2007, prior to President Bush's state of the union address, Barnes wrote this essay for the Washington Post, What a Progressive President Might Say:

Here at home there is urgent work to do to fight the historically high -- and growing -- gap between our richest and poorest citizens. While the mean income of households on the low end of the income spectrum -- the bottom 20 percent -- is just $10,655 a year, the income of the top twenty percent of households averages almost $160,000. That's 15 times as much. At the same time, according to the latest census figures, the middle class, beset with stagnant wages and mountainous debts, is shrinking. The sad fact is that one of our most cherished values as a society, namely equality of opportunity, is fading as a reality for far too many people...

No news agency predicted it or broke the story until two hours ago this morning when the Think Progress blog became the first - beating all commercial media at their own game - to do so.

Likewise, the nomination to head the Council of Economic Advisors, Christina Romer, went un-predicted and without leaks until just three hours before today's press conference when Politico broke the story.

Note: All the great mentioners claim that New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson will become the next Commerce Secretary (clearly, that post will be part of the economic team). And that might still become so. But Richardson was not at the press conference today, nor was any such announcement made.

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[Heidi]

1. Kick!

:kick:

[last1standing]

2. That makes at least two so far.

I wanted some progressive balance in the administration and now we're getting some. It does make me feel better about the direction things could go in.

Now all we need is some GLBT representation and then I'll have to look for something else to complain about. ;)

[Jennicut]

3. Yes, she and Christine Romer were both good choices.

And Geithner believes in govt. intervention. I don't know what more people here want.

[TayTay]

4. Another fine appointment as Deputy Policy Director:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15919.html">Heather A. Higginbottom, Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council — Heather Higginbottom served as Policy Director for Obama for America, overseeing all aspects of policy development. From 1999 to 2007, Higginbottom served as Senator John Kerry’s Legislative Director. She also served as the Deputy National Policy Director for the Kerry-Edwards Presidential Campaign for the primary and general elections. After the 2004 election, Higginbottom founded and served as Executive Director of the American Security Project, a national security think tank. She started her career as an advocate at the national non-profit organization Communities in Schools.

A truly wonderful choice.

[ProSense]

19. Agree. n/t

[BeFree]

5. Oh nose!

Not another progressive. It may be too many already. And he's got more, hundreds more to go. If he ain't careful, he may just be inundated with progressives!

[Sunnyshine]

6. K & R - The media will not acknowledge this as M.B. is outside of their usual loopiness.

PE Obama knows what she is about, thankfully.

[riverwalker]

7. I like Christina Romer too

She was a very early supporter of Obama (a true believer)from the beginning. Important to me, to know she shares his vision.
She looked absolutely bubbling with joy (HOPE!)at the presser today.
I know nothing about "new kensian economics" but she has a beaming smile. ;)
She has written books about the depression, it's causes and how we got out.

[bvar22]

8. That is encouraging.

Maybe Obama IS listening to the Left.
He might actually have heard our voices after the conservative trial balloons last week.
Keep up the good work everyone.

[Uzybone]

18. Wrong

Its nothing to do with the whining of a few on the left wing blogoshpere. Not that we shouldn't keep talking and voicing our opinions, but I'm sure Obama didn't suddenly decide to add Mike Lux and Melody Barnes to his team because of handwringers.

[bunnies]

21. forget something?

This ----> :sarcasm: perhaps?

[liskddksil]

9. We could get Raúl Grijalva another progressive for Interior Secretary

[Shiver]

10. He's appointing progressives to posts...

...that have more influence and access to the President. These positions advise on a near daily basis, whereas the Cabinet doesn't.

It could be, and this is only speculation, that he'll fill his Cabinet with people who are less on ideology and more on getting the job done, and making his key advisers more progressive - advisers that do not have to be confirmed by the Senate.

[DangerousRhythm]

11. I like your take on this...

...a lot. :evilgrin:

Whatever his plan, this is awesome news.

:toast:

[Radical Activist]

12. Nice thought.

I hope that's right.

[Shiver]

13. Not to mention...

...since this isn't a Cabinet post, the vast bulk of the story seems to have slipped under the radar and deemed as 'unimportant'. Unless we start hearing story after story about Obama's "radical leftist advisers"...

[Radical Activist]

14. heh

Those will be around, although most likely in an unofficial advisory capacity. Obama understands the need for grass-roots pressure from the outside.
I wonder if he'll be too cautious to appoint anyone with ties to ACORN and its affiliated organizations.

[TahitiNut]

15. "Ten Well-Dressed Women: Melody Barnes"

http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/shopping/5424.html

[whatchamacallit]

20. “Danger, Will Robinson!”

That spells trouble...:loveya:

[Cha]

16. Wow! Thanks Pro Sense for

putting this together for us in your own inimitable way.

Obama has something for everyone.

[Starry Messenger]

17. That is exciting news!

Sure beats the hell out of the current guy, KKKarl Zinsmeister:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/12/AR2006061201479.html

"With a sharp pen, he skewered the left, taking special aim at environmentalists, anti-globalists, feminists, contemporary artists, university faculties, Hollywood, Broadway and particularly the media, composed mainly of "left-wing, cynical, wiseguy Ivy League types, with a high prima donna quotient."...

...A review of years of articles reveals a formidable thinker with a powerful sense of what he considers right and wrong. As Zinsmeister sees it, racial profiling by the police makes sense; the military, if anything, treats terrorist suspects too gently; and casual sex has led to wrecked cities, violence and "endless human misery." In a "soft, often amoral, and self-indulgent age," he warned, some children "will be ruined without a whip hand," and he assured that "things generally go better with God."...


...For Zinsmeister, provocation has been his stock in trade. "That's kind of my M.O., for better or worse," he said by phone last week. "My main beef with much of the Washington discussion is you're forced to be so mealy-mouthed. I had the luxury as an outsider of being as blunt as I wanted. When you're outside trying to push the elephant even an inch, you have to be very crisp and uncouched."...

...In his new post, Zinsmeister will oversee the president's domestic policy process and help shape White House positions on a wide array of issues, including immigration, Social Security and energy. The position has been key in past administrations, although in this White House, it has at times been overshadowed by other aides such as Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove. Zinsmeister's predecessor, Claude A. Allen, resigned after being accused of trying to fleece retail stores in a product-exchange scam."