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Friday, November 9, 2012

Barack Obama's second-term Cabinet - Edward-Isaac Dovere - POLITICO.com

Barack Obama's second-term Cabinet - Edward-Isaac Dovere - POLITICO.com:


Barack Obama's second-term Cabinet

Barack Obama is pictured with members of his first-term Cabinet. | AP Photo
Obama's planning for a second term has been under way for months. | AP Photo
Health and Human Services
One contentious figure who’s expected to stay in place is Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She’s steeped in Obama’s health care law, and with the amount of work needed to prepare for most of its provisions to take effect in 2014, making a switch now could complicate things.

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Since confirmation hearings for a new nominee would inevitably become an Obamacare retrial, the argument to keep her gets even stronger. There aren’t many replacement options for Sebelius if she goes. As a woman who was elected twice as a Democratic governor of Kansas, she once seemed like a natural Senate candidate back home, but her involvement with Obamacare would likely prove a fatal taint.
Labor, Education, Agriculture, HUD
There’s not much discussion about Hilda Solis — who did not play a significant campaign role despite being a Latino woman with deep connections to unions. Labor isn’t seen as a department that’s likely to face a change soon, nor is Education, where Arne Duncan is clearly enjoying his job and can focus on the policy issues he loves while keeping his spot in Obama’s regular pick-up basketball games. If he does go, former D.C. schools chief Michelle Rhee and Gov. Jack Markell are two possible contenders. HUD’s Shaun Donovan has taken an


Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83519_Page4.html#ixzz2Bl72u400