Political Equinox

Treasury

• Timothy Geithner – Geithner appears to be President-elect Obama’s first choice for Secretary of Treasury. The current President of the New York Federal Reserve Bank has been in the thick of orchestrating the bailout and currently serves as chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee. Geithner graduated from Dartmouth College with a bachelor’s degree in government and Asian studies and then received his masters in International Economics and East Asian Studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Education

• Tim Kaine - Kaine will be reaching the end of his time as Governor in 2010, as he is term-limited. Therefore, he could be an interesting snag for the Obama campaign despite the fact that he was passed over for the Vice Presidency. Kaine is a rising star in the Democratic Party and working as the Secretary of Education may give him a springboard to future aspirations in the party. Kaine has been quite successful in Virgina, Education Week called the state the place a child is most likely to have a successful life. Furthermore, Kaine has expanded access to college in Virgina and is leading an effort to bring teacher salaries up to the national average.
• Linda Darling-Hammond – Darling-Hammond has been shaping Barack Obama’s education policy for more than a year as a trusted education advisor. During the day, Darling-Hammond is an education professor at Standford University where she founded the School Redesign Network. Furthermore, back in Education Week named her one of the top 10 most influential people in education reform over the past decade.
• Joel Klein – Klein is the Chancellor of New York City Schools where he oversees some 1500 school in the New York City area. The education administrator has been a proponent of charter schools, which are a cornerstone in the Obama Education plan. However, with Mayor Michael Bloomberg running for a third term, Klein may prefer to stay in the

Commerce

• Bill Richardson – The current governor of New Mexico will likely be announced as the Secretary of Commerce during Obama’s upcoming announcement of his economic team. I think Richardson was the second choice for the slot because Obama seemed to be eying Penny Pritzker for the position; however, Pritzker turned down the offer because she wanted to stay in Chicago. Richardson was the Secretary of Energy and could be an interesting pick because of his experience in public-private partnerships.

Chief Technology Officer

This is not actually an official cabinet position, but President-Elect Barack Obama has promised to “appoint the nation’s first Chief Technology Officer.

• Eric Schmidt – Despite the fact that he denies any interest in the job, does anyone actually say that they’d love the position. Schidmt will likely take the job and I think it’s a major reason he got out on the campaign stump for Obama.
• Jeff Bezos – Bezos would probably be my first choice, right ahead Schmidt, but just barely ahead. I agree with Bezos’ business philosophies, which I think could go a long way in bringing the government’s technology forward. I still think Schmidt takes the job, but there is an outside chance.
• Vint Cerf – Cerf is widely considered the  ”father of the Internet”, and has worked at Google as a Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist since early 2005. Cerf could be a great selection, if in fact, Eric Schmidt does not take the job. He is well known for his predictions of how technology will affect our futures.