Joe Nocera, the NY Times' money guy, urges two particular appointments.
For Treasury, Sheila Bair.
All things considered, Geithner wasn’t a bad secretary. In no small part because of him, America’s banks are far better capitalized — and hence safer — than their European counterparts. But you always had the sense that his heart lay more with the bankers he was overseeing than the homeowners who needed help.That is why our nominee to replace Geithner is his bête noire, Sheila Bair. As the chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a job she held until July 2011, she fought against bank bailouts while pushing for mortgage modifications. Her new book, “Bull By the Horns,” is mostly her inside account of the financial crisis. But she also offers a series of sensible policy suggestions. Wouldn’t you like a Treasury secretary who believes that interest on debt should not be tax deductible — whether for large financial institutions or home mortgages? I sure would. ...Joe Nocera, NYT
There's real justice in Bair taking over at Treasury. Sidelined and detested by the far right, she's the person who had the clearest view of our growing financial crisis -- over a couple of decades. A big cheer will go up among reformers if she takes the post.
And then my choice for State (thanks, Joe!).
Let’s move next to the State Department, where an exhausted Hillary Clinton is ready to step down. She has been, without question, Obama’s finest appointment. She was also his riskiest. The current favorite for the job, Susan Rice, the United Nations ambassador, is a safe choice, but she doesn’t have the breadth that the job requires. Who does? How about Bill Clinton? Seriously. ...Joe Nocera, NYT
(Update: It looks as though Susan Rice is still the choice for State.)
And then: Yes! Throw Holder out of DOJ! A disaster from the outset!
But David Petraeus at Defense?
Why not! If you need a rationale to get you past Petraeus' latest betrayal, you need Adam Gopnik. Gopnik shreds the ridiculously egotistical US military and stands firmly on the side of lust. Can't argue with that.
First came the news that the hero of the surge had been surging with his biographer, a woman who, as a quick scan of her book-tour appearances suggests, was not only fabulously appealing but also more or less openly italicizing her attachment to the General. Then it came out that she had been sending notes to another female admirer of the General, which were threatening or, perhaps, merely catty. Then it came out that an F.B.I. agent who admired the second admirer, to whom he had sent a photo of himself shirtless, which may have been meant to entice or may have been entirely wholesome, had sprung to her defense by launching an investigation into the affair, which he leaked to Republican congressmen. Then it came out that a second general, in Afghanistan, had been corresponding with camp follower No. 2 in a way that some people said was “flirtatious.” The national-security establishment suddenly seemed like “Couples” with epaulettes.
The Fox News right, still recuperating from its electoral setbacks of the previous week, tried frantically to connect some part of this roundelay to what had happened at the American consulate in Benghazi, in September, but nothing stuck. Benghazi is a tragedy in search of a scandal; the Petraeus affair is a scandal in search of a tragedy. It is proof only that what Roth called the human stain spreads, and sooner or later stains us all. Any bit of schadenfreude it might provoke rises only from the way in which the by now too automatic American soldier worship—which is not always shared by actual soldiers—had, for once, to pause in the midst of its moralizing. There was something truly entertaining about seeing the usual officer-lauding pundits reaching a finger for stop A on the organ of indignation (the moral collapse of everything, owing to the promiscuity of everybody) and then, while longing to land on the usual stop B (the moral superiority of the men of the military and national-security services) having to pause, trembling, in midair. ...Adam Gopnik, New Yorker
____
This is so mean. One of those lovely Kelley girls has been given a social downgrade, according to Daily Intel.
First Tampa socialite Jill Kelley lost her ability to access MacDill Air Force Base unescorted due her involvement in the Petraeus scandal, and now the South Korean government has revoked her "honorary consul" title. Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kyou-hyun explained, “It’s not suitable to the status of honorary consul that (she) sought to be involved in commercial projects and peddle influence. It’s also inappropriate as honorary consul." This shouldn't affect Kelley's ability to claim she deserves special treatment, since the role never gave her diplomatic privileges anyway. ...Daily Intel
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