Another pick for the Obama team:
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) has been chosen to serve as secretary of the vast and troubled Department of Homeland Security for President-elect Obama, Democratic officials said. Napolitano is a border governor who will now be responsible for immigration policy and border security, which are part of Homeland Security’s myriad functions.
I do not know much about her, but have found her manner on the news shows to be bland, competent, and reassuring. I expect her law enforcement background and understanding of the issues involving border states will be de-fang some of the renewed immigration hysteria we will soon experience. Other than that, I know little about her and have not much to add.
On the other hand, but does it seem like these picks are just being methodically rolled out with little or no fanfare, and that so far, other than the Clinton at State brouhaha, there has been nothing controversial or even really exciting? I like that.
Incertus
Yeah, the big drama today seems to be over whether Daschle will have potential conflicts of interest as HHS secretary. When that’s the big issue of the day, you’re doing something right.
Jeff
Is she related to Judge Napolitano?
fuddmain
This should make McCain very happy.
jon
As an Arizonan, I’ll be sad to see her leave the governor’s house in Phoenix. Sure she was a Federal Prosecutor and such, but she was also a veto against the Republican legislature which is sure to crank the crazy to 11 now that one of their own will be in charge.
I’ve heard rumors for some time that she’s leaving, and some of the rumors involve personal issues. If she’s to be part of Obama’s Cabinet, I expect Obama’s enemies to have to make some argument about her as a security risk as the head of Homeland Security. Otherwise, they’re just admitting that her personal life is no big deal. And then where will they be?
Genius move on Obama’s part if he really wants to work for equal rights for all. A setback for Arizona, but a step forward for the country.
grandpajohn
People who are generally competent at their jobs and who carry that competence with them from job to job, usually don’t generate a lot of media attention and noise,
A government of competent adults, what a Christmas present Obama gives us
Elvis Elvisberg
I thought she was a rising star in AZ. I would have rather found some capable, less famous person. But these folks all seem to know what they’re doing.
dmsilev
Let us all pause for a moment, remember that Rudy Giuliani urged George Bush to appoint Bernie Kerik to this post, and give thanks that (a) this misbegotten administration is nearly over and (b) Rudy is nowhere near anything resembling a lever of national power.
-dms
Dennis - SGMM
@Elvis Elvisberg:
Napolitano will be term-limited out in 2010. If McCain does not retire I doubt that even she could beat him. Jon Kyl’s seat comes up for re-election in 2012. What better way to take advantage of her formidable abilities and to keep her name in front of the public than to have her as Secretary of DHS? I think that with that on her resumé she could beat Kyl easily. Although optimism and I have become largely strangers, I’d like to think that this is another example of Obama’s playing the long game.
Napoleon
This is an incredibly dumb choice since she could very well beat McCain in a race for the Senate. Having her in the Senate would be much better then anything she could do at DHS.
Dennis - SGMM
@Napoleon:
McCain was re-elected in 2004 by 76%. Even Napolitano would have a hard time unseating him. She would only have run for McCain’s seat if he retired.
Zifnab
@fuddmain: I was hoping to see her take the Arizona Senate seat. But after McCain’s smear-fest ’08, maybe it’s better to have her in a cabinet position than to have her labeled a crazy dyke bitch liberal evil terrorist non-American traitor secret Buddist murdering she-devil for the three months running up to Nov. 4th 2010.
TheHatOnMyCat
Grew up in Pittsburgh and Albuquerque.
Served as US Attorney for Arizona.
Former Attorney General of Arizona. Two term Dem governor of a red state who won reelection by big double digits.
Smart, tough, practical, fair, brilliant lawyer, not an ideologue, gets things done, very popular with the people she serves.
Great choice for this job and a well deserved appointment if she gets it.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Well, I’m seriously wondering about the gay issue. First it will drive the righties crazy, and second, it shows that Obama is truly going to be a president of diversity by naming a gay female governor as one of his first cabinet choices. It’s a bold move.
Great choice, I think.
blondie
I am also a Zonie. First, what Jon said. Second, its my understanding that we would get the Sec of State if she steps down to do this- who is a republican. I have seen her speak on numerous occasions and she is a fascinating public speaker as well as a brilliant mind. I would be sad to see her go.
Caramon
Seems to me like a gift from Obama to McCain. Napolitano is the only one that was polling higher than him for 2010.
Perhaps in McCain’s meeting with Obama he said that he was willing to be a good boy and work in his strong areas (immigration, earkmarks, etc) in exchange for this?. McCain’s vote in the senate could be the missing 60th.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Good morning. Feeling better?
Elvis Elvisberg
Dennis – SGMM– thanks, that makes a lot of sense.
NonyNony
Amazing how something that a few years ago I would have written off as a back-handed compliment sounds like GODDAMN GOLD right now, isn’t it?
All I really want is competent. Reassuring is a bonus. And if bland == no drama, then sign me the fuck up.
TheFountainHead
I’d give her even money AT BEST on being able to oust McCain if he decided to do so, and it seems that he does. McCain isn’t just a popular Senator in Arizona, he’s an institution there that is well funded, well liked, and well-embedded. This is a good move for Napolitano, if true. It’s also possible that Obama bought some good will from McCain himself for this appointment. This takes the pressure of his re-election considerably.
Jason
Napolitano is not gay, or if she is, she is not "out". Unfortunately Arizona will have to live with a moron in Governor Brewer and a passle of looting psychopaths in the legislature until the next session. Please remember that when Arizona kicks evolution out of schools and cutting social services and yelling at people who want us to Press 1 For English that Janet’s skills and talents for you came at a price to us.
TheHatOnMyCat
No migraine symptoms today. Good morning.
It’s generally accepted here in AZ that she is, although she has not declared herself to be. The GOP tried to use it against her in her reelection bid and it backfired nicely.
Their approach was to suggest that a woman "without a family and children" could not understand the problems of people with a family and children. Epic fail, her popularity and approval went up.
Napoleon
No doubt, but she did poll higher then him for that race in the last several weeks, so she has a shot.
pika
Re: John’s comment about renewed immigration hysteria–shouldn’t these very immigration-phobes be welcoming immigrants with open arms in order to reduce the stock of existing housing?
NonyNony
McCain has two years to puff his image back up, and two years for the folks in Arizona to forget what a tool he’s been for the last year. Polls from right before the race are not that great an indicator of how he’s going to do in 2010 as far as I’m concerned because the McCain who ran for President isn’t going to be the guy running for Senate in two years.
tinat
As a memeber of the gay community in Arizona I can tell you they will find nothing to use against Gov. Napolitano here. IF she is gay as we all suspect she is very good at keeping her relationships under wraps. I think she is married to her work, and damn brilliant at it.
It should be a rockin’ 2 years with the bat shite crazy Jan Brewer in charge in Arizona…only bright spot is we have no money for her to get crazy with!
as far as a Senate seat…McCains district as very few minorities and even fewer Democrats it seems, so it’d be a long shot.
fuddmain
@Zifnab: You’re probably right. Everything I’ve heard suggests she’ll do an excellent job at Homeland Security, so it’s all good.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
I wasn’t suggesting a witch hunt, I’m supportive of this selection.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Only home builders and mortgage lenders, the others don’t seem to care, I think.
Zifnab
@Caramon:
This might not be the worst strategy, as Obama could be roping in both McCain and Lieberman (and perhaps Graham and a number of other centrist GOPers as well). McCain is an old hand in the Senate. He brings a lot of weight with him.
If Obama is winning chits from McCain just two weeks after beating him to the White House, I think "Magical Unity Pony" may live up to its expectations.
Jay in Oregon
For a second I thought we were talking about Johnette Napolitano. But I was misspelling the name…
Brian J
If Napalitano is in fact a lesbain, then I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the fact that it’d be made into some sort of fake national scandal. It’s not fair to her, and it’s certainly not good to pretend it makes any difference at all in regards to her ability to do her job. Still, the cynical part of me wants it to happen, because the Republicans would really take a beating if they want after this one hard.
As far as her qualifications go, I’m not really sure what to think. I don’t know exactly what sort of qualifications would be good for this job, since it’s a fairly new cabinet position that has a lot of similar but ultimately different tasks (in the sense that immigration issues are different than FEMA-related issues). That said, perhaps the best qualification is the ability to manage a big department filled with lots of different tasks, something a governor should be able to do.
Brian J
If I still live in New York in 2010 and Rudy! does run for governor, I’m going to take a lot of pleasure in voting against him.
Brian J
For all of those who are lamenting the fact that Napalitano isn’t going to run for the Senate in 2010, let me say that perhaps she has her sights on 2012, when John Kyl is up again. He seems like the far more repulsive Republican from Arizona.
Brian J
You’d think so, wouldn’t you?
Perhaps the terrible housing market could be a way for the Obama administration to push expanded immigration through. The problem is that a lot of the public would probably imagine a lot of the increase in immigrants to come from the Poor, Dirty, Thieving Mexicanz, as opposed to well educated, wealthy immigrants. I’d have to wonder, though, how much worse the areas of the country with lots of boarded up houses could get before people would be willing to accept lots of new lower (economic) class families.
homer
Jan Brewer, the Arizona Secretary of State, will be the next AZ governor. We are totally, utterly screwed in this state. She and the Republican-run Senate and House will destroy education funding and you can bet we’ll get lots of nasty Mexican-baiting legislation.
Punchy
Wish he woulda give this to Flava Flav and called it the Departizzle of Homey-land Security, Bitches.
Comrade Peter J
I was a bit worried about the redistricting in 2010, but then I found out that Arizona does it by an independent, bipartisan commission. So those worries are gone.
JasonF
Various people on both the left and the right are having conniption fits over the idea of Eric Holder as Attorney General.
Brian J
Why?
Dennis - SGMM
@Brian J:
While serving as acting Attorney General in the Clinton administration, one of Holder’s tasks was reviewing Marc Rich’s petition for a presidential pardon. Clinton pardoned Rich on his last day in office. The pardon was very controversial. Holder testified at a Congressional investigation in 2001 that he’d given insufficient attention to the matter due to the press of other business.
JasonF
In addition to what Dennis said, people are also freaking out over Holder because he’s too much of a hawk on the war on terror, too dovish on the war on terror, too anti-gun, too anti-drug, too tied to the Clinton administration, too inexperienced in Washington politics, and because he worked for a large white-shoe law firm.
In other words, the usual litany of excuses that people give when they are reasoning backwards from the conclusion that a nomination must be opposed.
Tim in SF
First order of business: Change the damn name. "Homeland" Fatherland Motherland uuberland… bunch of crypto-fascist b.s.
Department of Domestic Security. Means the same thing but without the GW taint.
Vincent
Aside from the Rich thing, what exactly is so controversial about Holder? I don’t know much about him, but I am reassured of his stance against torture and warrantless wiretapping. If that sounds like a low bar to jump over, you obviously haven’t been paying to our recent Attorney Generals.
Jeff
Speaking of DHS, I think the idea of Bruce Schneier heading the TSA would be all kinds of awesome, even if he does not want it. The hassle that he would save people at airport security would probably guarantee Obama a few extra points in 2012.
Brian J
I knew all of that. I can understand why people on the right would freak out over some so seemingly uncontroversial to those of us in the reality based community, but why would people on the left care? Do they really think it’s going to make the conformation difficult? Is there any other reason?
Brian J
How about the Department of Heartland Security, as a tribute of sorts to Saul?
JG
Gov. Napolitano apparently first came on the national scene as Anita Hill’s attorney (or one of them?) during the fiasco of the Clarence Thomas hearings. This was then a problem for her own confirmaton hearings a few years later when Clinton appointed her U.S. Attorney b/c the Repubs still had their knickers in a twist. More information here in an article from Slate.
tinat
Oh I’m sure you weren’t…but I’m sure Rush limpdick and his ilk are, LOL. But they’ll find nothing. She is one smart chica and will do a great job in whatever she decides to do. She is strong, smart and get’s things done!
Xanthippas
Only after eight years of Bush would bland competency be reassuring.
JasonF
Here is a criticism of Mr. Holder from the Nation magazine relating to Mr. Holder’s positions on the so-called War on Terror. I have also seen criticisms that Mr. Holder views the War on Terror too much through the prism of law enforcement and not enough as a military exercise, so take it for what it’s worth.
People on Daily Kos were throwing stones at the Holder nomination because since 2001, he has worked for Covington & Burling, the white-shoe DC law firm, and in particular because at Covington he represented Chiquita in connection with the prosecution of that company for alleged crimes committed against the people of Colombia.
Reason Magazine has criticized Mr. Holder as being too hawkish on drug policy. This is the crticism that troubles me most, particularly given that Vice President-elect Biden is one of the most strident drug warriors in Washington. I hope President-elect Obama keeps to his position that we need to revisit our drug laws and stop throwing otherwise law-abiding drug users in jail.
Brian J
Damn you, JasonF. Now it looks like I’ll actually have to read those arguments from the right and the left instead of dismissing them out of hand for being stupid. As if there wasn’t enough that I have to read!
Notorious P.A.T.
I like her ice cream.
Notorious P.A.T.
I’m one of them, but if she takes this appointment she could still run, couldn’t she? She probably wouldn’t spend all 8 years of the Obama administration in this job anyway, so I’d have no problem with her serving a year and a half then going back to AZ to run for the Senate.
DFH no.6
Governor Napolitano has done a yeoman’s job as a successful, pragmatic, centrist Democrat in a state controlled (forever) by Republicans. Many of these (including Janet’s soon-to-be replacement, Sec State Jan Brewer) are of the true wackaloon variety. Far to the right of the general population.
Bad enough that AZ’s economy has been in recession all this year, and won’t be coming out any time soon, the state government moving even further to the right will make things much worse around here. At least the weather’s nice.
But AZ’s loss is America’s gain. Janet will do as good a job heading up the Heimat Security department as anyone could.
passerby
She strikes me as kinda like Betty Hutton as Annie Oakley in an old movie: tough in a pragmatic sort of way, no-nonsensical but gregarious. Or kinda like the old Battle-axe stereo type of head nurse: competent, strict but caring.
In any event, her personality seems to fill whatever space she’s in. I think it’s good pick. I like her.
DFH no.6
There was some talk about Janet running for McCain’s seat in ’10, but I think it more likely that she’ll go up against Kyl in ’12.
She has been popular for a reason here, but her success at a future senatorial campaign will depend more on the success of the Obama administration’s first term than on what she did as governor.
The rest of us will just hunker down here in the meantime. Arizona is not Alabama or Oklahoma, but our statehouse will sure make us look that way, at least for the next two years.
We are REALLY going to miss Janet’s veto pen.
HyperIon
Hit and Run (available on the blogroll) has a couple of articles up. And they don’t like Daschle either. Of course, ideological purity is basically the only point for those guys so YMMV.
passerby
Caramon
I think that’s a good point of view. You don’t get that kind of musing from garden variety pundits and I’m always interested in what’s going on behind closed doors of politics.
good catch
Brick Oven Bill
The last thing we need is a politician in charge of Homeland Security. I wish Barack had the self-confidence necessary to appoint a non-political mid-grade military officer to the post.
Comrade Desert Hussein Rat
As a native Arizonan, I’m sad to see her go. Her veto pen has saved the state from 6 years of batshit insane. She’s also got a surprising amount done for the state despite a Republican dominated state legislature.
Remember, she cut her teeth as a US Attorney in the Clinton Administration, before becoming Arizona attorney general and Governor. As a border state governor, she has done a good job dealing with the illegal immigration in what is easily the looniest state in the union on that issue. Trust me, you haven’t seen crazy nativism until you’ve seen Russell Pearce, Jack Harper, et al.
As for Napolitano vs. McCain, yeah, I have to presume this probably means that she doesn’t run against McCain in 2010. However, there’s another Senator whose term ends in 2012, Jon Kyl. Kyl is crazy like McCain, but without the charm.
Janet would have had a tough time against McCain, but I have to tell you I’d like her chances against Jon Kyl.
Brian J
Oh, absolutely. I don’t know if she’d have many primary challenges, but while I don’t live in the state, my guess is, she wouldn’t need to reintroduce herself to the population. I think that if she wanted it and the party wanted her to have it, she could get it, while serving about a year and a half as Sec. of Homeland Security.
And as I said above, there’s always Kyl who is up for reelection in 2012.
jack-of-all-thumbs
@Tim in SF:
An excellent idea! ‘Homeland’ has always given me the creeps.
Plus we could jumpstart the economy with all the re-labeling contracts.
rachel
@DFH no.6: Well, if Arizona’s economy is still bad in 2012, a Republican incumbent that insists on continuing to be a wackaloon might find it hard to keep her seat.
Jay B.
Brian J,
From the libertarian and left side, Greenwald has come out with tentative support for Holder and The Field’s Al Giordano has too. The Rich thing sucks, but hardly seems to be what I would want to fall on my sword over.
As for the Chiquita business, Giordano is a long-time Central and South America watcher (the accusation is Holder defended the banana company against charges they funded Bolivian death squads) and he backs Holder under the proper assumption that even shitheel corporations deserve counsel. Greenwald pointed out the same thing. It’s part of our legal system, you know.
The war on drugs thing is a bi-partisan train wreck. You couldn’t find and you couldn’t nominate someone who didn’t say they were against drug use. Hopefully, he’ll have other things to keep him busy.
Better still, he’s an outspoken liberal who believes in fairness under the law. Combined with his stances on civil liberties and his evolving take on the War on Terror — it seems that he has seen the sickening overreach and taken it to heart — I think he would be a good choice.
And, of course, no matter what, he’s going to be leagues better than the current occupant. Democrats always get the short straw because the GOP’s massive fuckups always allow them to argue that the Democrats will just fuck up too and therefore deserve to be opposed
DFH no.6
rachel,
It’s better than that. We don’t have to wait till 2012. The next election for governor in AZ is in November of 2010. Janet was term-limited anyway, so couldn’t run again for that job.
Soon-to-be Governor Jan Brewer and her majority posse of fellow rightwing lunatics in the legislature will ensure that the situation in AZ becomes worse than it needed to be in the interim.
The electorate around here is only slowly and painfully moving in a progressive direction, but I like the Dems chances for the legislature (at least the House) and the Governorship (current Attorney General Democrat Terry Goddard) in 2010.
Then Janet comes back in 2012 and beats Jon Kyl for the U.S. Senate.
A girl can dream.
Tom
There is no excitement regarding BO’s picks because the media is rubber stamping every one. Just like the months before the election, the media have flushed their journalistic integrity and responsibilities to worship the messiah.
On Napolitano, good reddens. About time we got rid of Crappy Nappy. She is soft on illegals. Arizona’s budget deficit is $2B, second only to California. Arizona is 48th in education. Arizona is ground zero in the war on American and invasion of illegals. It will take Republican Jan Brewer years to repair the damage. Crappy Nappy’s record of fiscal mismanagement, big government, and support of illegals fits perfectly with messiah’s anti-America agenda. Good choice Jesus, errr, I mean Obama.
Steve Lee
Tom- You are right, at least the legislature passed the Legal Arizona Workers Act so Arizona’s citizens won’t have to pay for illegals education and health care, like in the once golden state, Click Link:
California Governor Raises Sales Taxes to 10% to Pay for Illegals Healthcare
We are wondering about how Janet Napolitano will enforce the immigration laws the US already has? Click Link:
Janet Napolitano for Homeland Security Secretaery?