Can we please stop these calls to move people from the the Senate to the Cabinet.

Clinton, Kerry. Whitehouse, Webb et al

first of all

They are vastly different roles. while all these senators have policy chops, a great bit of the role of Cabinet offices is administrative. Simply because they are smart people does not mean they are suited for jobs,=.

Secondly, Smart people can advise a president without being part of the cabinet. Policy can be developed on either end of Pennsylvania Avenue. We need the people in the Senate to push through the Democratic Agenda in the Committees and on the floor. Besides Senators have large egos by nature, While Obama does not need sycophants, he also doe not need the headaches of controlling the message and people "going rogue". Remember ALL SENATORS WANT TO BE PRESIDENT...SOMEDAY.


Third, it drains the Senate of Democrats, even if they are in relatively safe seats. There is a pecking order on the Hill and the value in moving the people down the street is in the greater scheme of things rather marginal


Finally, if you want to pull anyone out of the Senate we should be talking about GOPers. Voinovich is a short-termer given ho Blue Ohio is turning. Make him something Manufacturing or Infrastructure Czar. Ask Mel Martinez to run the Commerce Department. Ask Lieberman to be in charge of, I dunno....Make him Postmaster General.


Look I understand this is a parlor game, but the idea of asking Democratic Senators to serve in another way is just a bad idea all around. I don't think we need them, any of them, to join the administration.

In fact, I don't know if there is much precedent for it.

All this talk of movement of senior Democratic members means they'd be replaced by newer less polished people.

We need some of that experience in the Senate to counter the republikkans there

joe LIEberman as US Ambass to Israel.

I wonder if he'd take it, knowing the impact to the Senate? I kind of think he couldn't resist.

i think he couldn't resist.

What people write here is not going to cause anything to happen one way or the other. Your opinion is valuable and you have a right to express it. Your headline suggesting those less enlightened need to be muzzled, however, is in appropriate.

my FIL was saying, "Well, Kerry could do this and Casey could do that, and Schumer could do the other..." and I just said, stop now,please. We have enough problems we don't need to strip the Senate of our most effective and knowledable folks.

I don't know how many times I've read here "What cabinet position should Obama offer to Hillary?"
Why the hell would a Senator, one who will no doubt have a long and fruitful career in that body, give up one of the most powerful jobs in the world to head HHS?

I think a lot of people just don't really understand how government functions.

the "Cabinet" is the winner's circle! It is the club for the cool kids. EVERYBODY wants to join!

:sarcasm:

So many Dem Senators keep getting mentioned for cabinet positions but we need them in the Senate. If there was someone that he really thought was the best, then I guess that would be ok (as long as a Dem would replace them). I would prefer Obama first look at people like Gore or Dean...people who are great but won't take a Dem out of office.