It’s been a surreal few years under the Trump administration. I remember being in shock, disbelief, and frankly dangerously depressed when he won the 2016 election. We now look to 2020 not only to undo much of what has been done, but to forge a fairer, more equitable, and more charitable America going into this new decade. To help do this, I’m assembled my dream administration– the folks I’d personally like to see occupy the highest offices and the sundry executive departments.
As a general rule, I’ve tried to avoid “shiny objects” as cabinet secretaries– household names who ~seem~ like they might be good choices but would be constrained by the cabinet officer’s need to work within existing systems and be answerable to the president. In other words, this is an administrative job, not a bully pulpit. There is plenty of room for reformers, but very little for revolutionaries. God bless Bernie Sanders, but he wouldn’t be put to his best use as Secretary of Labor; his talents aren’t in administrative minutia, they are in speaking out boldly from his perch in the Senate. High name recognition does not have any correlation to getting the job done.
I’ve also made a rule against sitting senators (aside from President Warren). The problem with putting senators in is that they have to be replaced, and there’s always the danger they will be replaced by someone in the opposite party– either immediately (depending on who is governor) or after the next election. Think of how much of a headache President Obama made for his party when he displaced himself, Biden, Clinton, and Salazar from the Senate, with three of these becoming contested races in 2010. I do, though, have a couple former congressmen and two current congresswomen.
Finally, to sketch out my vision: I wanted the right blend of progressivism and administrative competence in the cabinet. I wanted a good blend of perspectives– and folks come from executive departments, business, the non-profit world, the military. We have governors, mayors, and in our president, an exemplar of the public service-oriented academic. Finally, I wanted geographical balance as well, with New Englanders, southerners, Midwesterners, Mountain Westers and West Coasters all represented. There’s a couple non-partisan folks, a few of the more decent Republicans, but in general, people who have actively worked within the Democratic Party.
President: Elizabeth Warren. I’ve been on Team Warren for the better part of a year now, and I’m still happy with my choice. People who underestimate her or dismiss her as a radical or elitist do so at their peril; she’s a master communicator of complex economic ideas and unlike Hillary, is not so far removed from her modest background. In other words, you can buy her backstory as a working mother with hardscrabble Oklahoma origins and her family’s military background. She offers systematic change but with a keen mind for the complexities and consequences it will have.
Vice-President: Julian Castro. I write this just a day after he ended his presidential campaign. Unlike most of the also-rans, his reputation came out stronger. I had dismissed Julian Castro as an overhyped lightweight, but he impressed me with every debate, often drawing connections between issues in an incisive way. Castro has the managerial experience from being the mayor of one of America’s ten biggest cities and his time at HUD has given him critical White House experience. (I picked Castro and wrote this part before news hit of the secretary’s endorsement of Warren. I’m not sure whether that helps or hurts his prospects of being her running-mate, but there we go.)
Secretary of State: Russ Feingold. He lost a winnable Senate race twice in Wisconsin, but there’s little that could diminish my respect for Feingold. He boldly condemned the Iraq War and the national security state that developed in the wake of September 11th. He has years of experience on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and would have been its chair had he not been defeated in 2010 or had John Kerry headed State during Obama’s first term. While it may be overstating it, one could make an argument that he ended a civil war in Congo. If the purpose of this department is to resuscitate relationships with allies and keep crises from boiling over into violent conflict, Feingold’s the man.
Secretary of the Treasury: Sarah Bloom Raskin. It’s tempting to put a firebrand in this spot, but I think that’s unwise. I hope the next presidency helps remold America’s economy into something more fair, less dominated by a handful of big names, more truly meritocratic. But Treasury isn’t necessarily where those changes are going to be made; here, you need someone to keep the ship afloat and stable as a transition to social democracy is made. Raskin, therefore, is my choice. She’s been on the Federal Reserve Board, worked at Treasury under Obama to help stanch the bleeding of student loan default, and is keenly attuned to the problems of income inequality. Assuming that Warren will partly be her own Secretary of the Treasury, Raskin is the right synthesis of competent and conscientious– and also would be the first woman to serve in this cabinet spot.
Secretary of Defense: Tim Walz. I’ve advocated for Walz as an underrated running mate, but I think he’s similarly a sleeper pick for Defense. The smart money is on Michele Flournoy–who was essentially Hillary’s Defense secretary in waiting–but I want somebody less Hawkish and one fewer Ivy League groupthinker here. Walz is the highest ranking enlisted man to serve in congress, has been doing great work as governor of Minnesota, and was an Iraq-skeptic from the start. Military experience, Washington experience, managerial skills. Boom. Incidentally, Walz’s departure from St. Paul would leave Peggy Flanagan as governor, the first female governor of the Land of 10,000 Lakes, and only the third Native American governor in US history.
Attorney General: Brian Sandoval. I’ve selected another governor for a key cabinet spot. Sandoval was one of the best and most popular governors in the country during his eight years at the helm of Nevada. He avoided needlessly stoking the culture wars, was fine with raising taxes when necessary, and was generally fair and honorable, even being the lone GOP gubernatorial holdout against the refugee ban. Out of all major Republican figures, it’s difficult to find someone who has less of the stink of Trump about him than Sandoval. The Attorney General’s office is not like the other cabinet spots, and needs to be especially free of partisanship. Picking a Republican here who has acted in good faith would be a start.
Secretary of the Interior: Christy Goldfuss. I’m not rewarding Steve Bullock for his ill-conceived presidential run and stubborn refusal to run for the Senate. Instead, I’m going with an old hand– a young old hand– from the Obama years. She headed the Council on Environmental Quality under Obama and was deputy director of the National Parks Administration. In an era where federal workers at our national parks and historical sites are some of the most demoralized by the present administration, Goldfuss’s social media savvy, climate hawkishness, and deep desire to protect public lands will be put to good use here. Interior usually goes to a Westerner; so counterintuitively, this spot goes to a Connecticut native, one of two in this cabinet.
Secretary of Agriculture: Phil Karsting. My single biggest criterium for USDA is: not beholden to Monsanto. Karsting certainly has that going for him. He’s worked at Agriculture helping bolster US exports (helpful for farmers hurt by the trade wars), and he’s helped feed children in third-world countries through the McGovern-Dole programs. Karsting is also familiar with the budget and economics side of the agriculture equation and was once part of Herbert Kohl and Jim Exon’s respective staffs. Today, he’s interim president of World Food Program USA. For me, the USDA’s greatest mission is to make sure hungry people get fed. Karsting is better equipped than anyone I can think of to make that happen. Oh, he’s also a chef, which suggests to me that he gets the ultimate goal of agriculture.
Jobs with Justice National Conference, Day 2 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. Aug. 6, 2011 © Rick Reinhard 2011
Secretary of Labor: Ai-Jen Poo. For years, she has mobilized domestic workers and caregivers, most recently serving as leader of Domestic Workers United. (Many domestic workers are exempt from state and federal labor laws, allowing them to overworked, underpaid, and vulnerable to harassment.) She has been a consistent voice for humane immigration policies, workers’ rights, and just as importantly, making sure workers have the tools and resources they need to make a positive change. She knows, better than most, that part of the labor movement is the ability to make good on your own vocation.
Secretary of Commerce: Mick Cornett. Second of three Republican picks. Cornett was mayor of Oklahoma City for over a decade, and in that time, he got the city a professional sports franchise, a number of key health initiatives, and a great business environment, ultimately coming within a whisker of a World Mayor Prize. (This is what a successful mayoralty looks like, by the way.) He attempted to run for governor of Oklahoma but predictably lost in the GOP primary to a Trump acolyte. Sharp and innovative, he’ll make sure business leaders don’t feel too disenfranchised by the Warren administration.
Secretary of Health and Human Services: Neera Tanden. One of the most progressive figures in Hillaryland. Tanden worked at HHS during the Obama administration and was a key architect of Obamacare, but her heart was in something more comprehensive and has suggested a Medicare-for-All scheme that wouldn’t abolish private insurance. It’s worth noting that she was also a big wheel at the Center for American Progress, one of the most significant liberal think tanks. She has the policy chops to help make truly universal health care–and not just a mandate to buy it–a reality.
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Ana Gelabert-Sanchez. This woman–one of the most obscure of my cabinet secretaries–revitalized downtown Miami as the city’s planning director. She altered the city’s moribund building code that created inconsistencies of height and density to create a blueprint for the city that was more sustainable and walkable and ascetically pleasing– and she did so in conversation with Miami’s various cultural neighborhoods and communities. Her Miami21 plan also won the American Planning Association’s Excellence Award.
Secretary of Transportation: Keith Parker. Parker has been tearing it up over the last decade by helping major Southern cities revamp their infrastructure: Charlotte, San Antonio, and a city that had hitherto terrible public transportation, Atlanta. His work with MARTA in Atlanta, especially, helped attract new businesses to the metro area. He now works for the Georgia branch of Goodwill. To me, that would ordinarily be a red flag–the company has faced criticism for hiring workers with various cognitive disabilities to justify paying them less–but Parker has made a good-faith effort to change these practices from within and advocate for income equality.
Secretary of Energy: Jay Inslee. Inslee–former congressman and current governor of Washington–was clearly running for a cabinet position when he was running for president. He ran on one big issue–addressing climate change–and got out of the race gracefully when he had made his point. Inslee has worked to reframe climate change as a justice issue. As such, Inslee has been able to connect the economic, environmental, and infrastructural, and health components to this complex and overacting issue. Check out Vox’s useful take on his climate plan. Energy is a small-ish department and so Inslee can take on a larger portfolio as the administration’s “climate czar.”
Secretary of Education: Jahana Hayes. Hayes made history in 2018 by becoming the first woman of color to represent New England in Congress. Hailing from western Connecticut, Hayes won accolades as the National Teacher of the Year in 2016, in part for her pedagogy and in part for her focus on service as a necessary component of learning. I’m a little hesitant to let someone with only two years of Congress and limited administrative experience to helm a cabinet post, but you have assistant secretaries to handle the bureaucratic angle. I need Hayes as an advocate, someone who has spent the long hours in the classroom, to rebuild America’s public education after the disastrous tenure of Betsy DeVos.
Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs: Michael Michaud. In 2014, Michaud averred re-election in Maine’s rural 2nd district to run for governor of Vacationland. That didn’t work out, and after some speculation about his future, took a job as an Assistant Secretary of Labor in a role that facilitates the training and hiring of veterans. Maine- especially the 2nd district- has an unusually large number of military veterans, and Michaud is no stranger to representing their interests. He was one of the first to identify the VA incompetence under Eric Shinseki and demand reform. Michaud also sponsored an act in Congress that would have given tax credits to businesses that hire veterans. After his unsuccessful gubernatorial run, he worked at the Labor Department and oversaw VETS, Veterans’ Employment and Training Service. As someone conversant in the fields of veterans’ affairs, health care, and labor, he’d be a slam dunk at the VA. Oh, and if confirmed, he’d be the first openly gay cabinet secretary.
Secretary of Homeland Security: Michelle Brané. I thought about William McRaven for this spot, but I want DHS to be much more transparent a guy who led secret ops in the Middle East–much as I admire him–didn’t feel right. Elissa Slotkin might be great in a few years, but she’s a freshman congresswoman from a lean-Republican district in Michigan that it would be a shame to risk losing. I went, in the end, with an activist. More than most departments, DHS is in need of profound reform– not just in terms of its structure but its very mission. It can serve important functions–even the most stalwart leftist I’m aware of isn’t suggesting truly open borders or zero safety protocols. But ICE needs to be remade from the bottom up after wrecking havoc on countless families and bearing responsibility for carrying out family separation. Anyway, Michelle Brané. She’s a co-director of the Women’s Refugee Commission, and in the words of her bio on their webpage, “advocates for the critical protection needs of immigrant women, children and other vulnerable migrant populations in the United States.” She’s also worked for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and coordinated the Detained Torture Survivor Legal Support Network as a lawyer and legal advocate, while authoring several books on the present global migration crisis.
And short write-ups for other cabinet level offices:
Chief of Staff: Jeremy Bernard. I worry sometimes that Rahm Emanuel has been ensconced in our minds as the quintessential chief-of-staff: a grim, unsmiling, foul-mouthed bad cop who knocks heads together and demands inhuman levels of efficiency and loyalty. I envision something more edifying. I’ve chosen a former White House social secretary: Jeremy Bernard. He recently co-wrote an excellent book about civility, Treating People Well, and will bring that ethic to the White House without being a milquetoast or pushover. Graciousness and effectiveness are not mutually exclusive virtues.
Small Business Administration: Hillary Schieve. Implausibly, there’s a second Nevadan in my dream cabinet. It’s especially shocking since it’s possibly the blue state I respect the least (although Illinois might win that particular sweepstakes.) Anyway, Schieve is the non-partisan mayor of Reno who ran a small chain of clothing resale shops. She’s revitalized the downtown and helped bring Reno’s unemployment rate from 13% to 3.5%.
National Security Administration: Ben Rhodes. A bit of a young showboater, Rhodes was nevertheless a key part of Obama’s foreign policy team. For all of his spotlight grabbing, you can’t argue he’s been ineffective, having played a key role in the Iran deal and the establishment of relations with Cuba.
Office of Management and Budget: Kristen Cox. The third and final Republican in this batch, Cox holds down OMB in the state of Utah. Cox has a knack for identifying bottlenecks and redundancies and her fiscal discipline–different, I think, than ideological conservatism–will be a useful balancing wheel in an administration brimming with badly needed but admittedly expensive progressive ideas. She’s also a strong advocate of stress tests, implementing a number of measures to test how Utah’s finances could whether a severe recession. Kristen Cox may be legally blind, but in every way that matters, she sees more clearly than most.
UN Ambassador: Maria Otero: An immigrant born in Bolivia, Otero was a fixture at the State Department in the Obama years as Under-Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights. I want the USA to assume credible leadership on questions of human rights as right-wing governments are in ascendance throughout the globe, and her background–which includes pioneering micro financing work and stints at two of my favorite organizations, Bread for the World and the U.S. Institute of Peace, makes her an ideal choice as our representative to the U.N.
EPA: Katie McGinty. McGinty missed becoming senator from Pennsylvania by a whisker in 2016. She’s worked in and out of the private sector, worked as a legislative assistant for Mr. Environment himself, Al Gore, chaired the White House Council on Environmental Quality in the Clinton years, and served as Pennsylvania’s chief environmental officer.
DNI: Janet Wolfenbarger. First woman to serve as a four-star general in the Army. Fairly self-explanatory.
US Trade Representative: Jennifer Granholm. Trade policy has unexpectedly become a sexy topic, and free trade fever that’s dominated the last 30 years of public policy has been called into question by grassroots groups across the political spectrum. International trade is inevitable, and rightly so, but who better to protect U.S. interests than someone who was Governor of Michigan for eight years? She even got Hillary to reconsider her stance not he TPP. As a Rust Belt governor who weathered the automotive crisis, she’s been a sharp-elbowed advocate for policies that favor U.S. industrial development while maintaining strong internationalism- working with Sweden in recent years to support a green energy economy.
CIA director: Val Demings. Orlando’s first female police chief and now a congresswoman. Her work on the Homeland Security and Intelligence committees will be of great benefit in helming the CIA post. Her sharp, analytical, and reformists instincts will be badly needed there.
Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers: Stephanie Kelton. It’s technically not a cabinet position any more, but I’d bring it back and staff it with one of Bernie’s economic advisors, SUNY Stony Brook professor Stephanie Kelton. She favors modern monetary theory, which posits a great deal of centralized government spending to stimulate the economy equitably– Keynesianism on steroids. We’ve ignored the deficit for the Iraq War, and possibly an upcoming Iran War, and for unnecessary tax cuts. This time, let’s ignore the deficit to remake America’s economy for the average citizen.
So those would be my dream cabinet picks for my dream ticket of Elizabeth Warren and Julian Castro. Competent. Ethical. Reformist. Progressive. Out of the “official” cabinet offices, without consciously trying, I almost had gender parity, with 8 men and 7 women. For the whole gamut, including the POTUS and VPOTUS, women actually outnumbered men 16 to 11. What do you think? Did I miss the mark on any of these selections? Let me know in the comments.
The Northumbrian Countdown 