So who can Obama appoint? First, he might have to appoint two people…one to manage the Department of Health and Human Services, and one to be the point person for health care reform. I’m not sure who else is out there that could do both. But if Obama goes with two people, he better line them up in tandem and be sure they are on the same page…you don’t want some recalcitrant bureaucrat railroading stuff from DHS, while Obama and his health care reform point person are trying to get shit through Congress.

(AND WILL THE NEW HHS PERSON HAVE CRAZY GLASSES?!?!?!?!?  OBAMA BETTER NOT LET US DOWN!!!!!)

Apparently, Gates wrote this before Obama tapped him to stay on as Secretary of Defense, as advice for the next guy to have the job.  But reading it, you can see why Obama would want to keep him at the Pentagon.  

Gates calls for the military to balance it’s strategy between preparing for conventional threats and winning the wars it is currently fighting.  Reading this, it is clear that Gates is extremely pragmatic and forward-looking.  His call for hard choices regarding military spending and weapon systems procurement should please liberals, have long opposed wasteful, bloated pentagon budgets.  At the same time, he emphasizes the importance of success in Iraq and Afganistan, which should reassure conservatives wary of Obama.  His recognition of the limits of American military power stand in stark contrast to Rumsfeld and Bush.

There are many difficult decisions to be made that will upset the status quo in the military, and  I doubt Obama by himself could have pushed through the necessary reforms.  Gates, on the other hand, has earned the respect of the military establishment.  Since he seems not only willing, but eager to use his national security bona fides to shake up the system, it seems that Obama made a very wise decision asking Gates to stick around.

While Obama is taking great pains to distinguish himself from the current administration, he is also taking one page from Bush’s playbook — discipline.  Although the number of leaks from the Obama camp has greatly increased since the election, the overall level of drama has been remarkably low.  I don’t anticipate a repeat of the drama of the Clinton years, even with Hillary at the State department and Bill Clinton continuing to…well…be Bill Clinton.

The transition is fun to watch, but I  think it will be more interesting to see how Obama governs, particularly when something goes wrong.  Can he salvage a bill headed to a narrow defeat in congress? How open will he be if a scandal erupts?  Will any poorly performing or scandal-plagued advisers or cabinet member “enjoy the full confidence of the president” until they retire to “spend time with their family”, or will Obama fire them to show everyone where the buck stops?

Bush came into office claiming to be the first CEO president and maybe he was right.  Unfortunately for the country, he was more like the CEO of a big three automaker than a Steve Jobs or a Warren Buffett.

If Obama is successful, it will be because he is able to be something we haven’t seen in quite a while — a presidential president.

With Richardson’s appointment, some are upset that he didn’t get picked for Secretary of State or that Obama didn’t name a Latino until halfway through his cabinet.  Other advocacy groups (representing gays, Asians, and others) are pushing for representation in the cabinet as well.  But what I think is most notable for Obama’s picks so far, is that he has put an emphasis on qualifications and expertise and has built a diverse, experienced, pragmatic, centrist cabinet.  Obama’s focus has not been on theatrically appealing to interest group expectations, like Clinton (a cabinet that looks like America!) and Bush (especially trying to reach out to Hispanic voters with the genius appointment of Alberto Gonzalez…).

Maybe I’m being insensitive, but a lot of the advocacy groups that are pushing for more diversity come off as whining and/or self-serving.  Considering the diversity of the cabinet so far, the fact that the President himself is black, and the crisis environment that the new government will be operating in, clinging to the old gripes about diversity seem out of touch.  Obama has shown that his focus is getting the best people for the jobs.  As evident in the cabinet so far, the best people and diversity aren’t mutually exclusive.

Of course, there’s not anything left for him in New Mexico politics (after being a representative in Congress and governor), which is a probably a good thing since he seems a little too eager to get out of New Mexico and back to DC. The locals might not take to kindly to their own governor being so ready to take the next train out of town. I’ve never been to New Mexico, but I hear Albuquerque is nice…maybe Bill Richardson disagrees. Or maybe managing a state with one of the highest poverty rates, especially concentrated on Native American reservations, is kind of depressing and heading to DC seems a lot more appealing, especially considering Commerce doesn’t really do that much and the position traditionally goes to a top political fundraiser/supporter while the actual work gets done by the managers and bureaucrats below him.

UPDATE:  Sneaky is correct.  As far as his political future, Richardson is getting term limited soon.  But that is still 2 years away and doesn’t change the slightly unseemly manner in which he has shown his willingness to leave New Mexico.