US Senator, 1993-Present
America's best Senator, since Paul Wellstone's death. Defeated an incumbent to earn his Senate seat despite spending just $1 per Wisconsin voter; co-sponsored the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law. His politics couldn't be better, in every measurable or imaginable way.
Vice President
John Edwards
North Carolina
Arkansas
Arkansas
Pennsylvania
New Jersey
Texas
New York
New York
Massachusetts
Illinois
Alabama
Iowa
New York
California
West Virginia
Louisiana
Georgia
Georgia
Maryland
Pennsylvania
Texas
New York
New York
US Senator, 1999-2005
I would rather see Dick Durbin, my close second choice, fighting in the US Senate; the same is true of Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, as well as Kent Conrad. I'd like to see Bill Richardson stay on as governor of New Mexico. I also wanted to put Sherrod Brown in this position, but he will be defeating Mike DeWine and taking a much-deserved seat in the US Senate from Ohio for the Democrats, and I'd hate to interrupt that. Although Senator Edwards has already been nominated for the Vice Presidency, I think he is the perfect choice--unless he chooses to re-take his old Senate seat. With all that said, John Edwards is a brilliant man, an accomplished attorney, a fighter for the poor and underprivileged, and my personal choice from all the 2004 nominees for president. I'd love to see him this close to the White House.
Secretary of State
Bill Clinton
US President, 1993-2001
The most qualified person in the world for this job. Bill Clinton's handling of the Kosovo and Somalia conflicts, successful campaign against Slobodan Milosevic, orchestration of the Dayton Accords, and diplomatic handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict--pracitcal experience with diplomacy--make him our country's leading foreign policy expert.
Secretary of Defense
Wesley Clark
Four-Star General and former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO
Eminently qualified to serve as a competent yet ethical and principled Secretary of Defense. His experience in the field in Vietnam is just the beginning of his vast and impressive resume, which includes graduation at the top of his class from West Point, Rhodes Scholarship, and command of US forces in Kosovo. He's a thoughtful guy and a progressive, but with the military knowledge requisite for this position.
National Security Advisor
Richard Clarke
Special Advisor to the US Security Council and State Department on Counterterrorism, 1985-2002
Previously a counterterrorism expert under four presidents (he began with Reagan in 1985), Richard Clarke has long been an expert about this quite current threat to our national security. Had his advice and warnings on the subject been heeded, 2,986 more people would probably be alive and the New York City skyline would be lot prettier. After September 11 and the Bush White House's non-response (ie, the War in Iraq), Richard Clarke did the principled thing: he defected and told the world what was really going on behind those tightly-closed doors. He wrote a book (Against All Enemies) revealing to the public how the right wing failed America and has still done nothing to prevent further terrorist action--though he's always been willing to take the blame for his position in the administration. Richard Clarke is a true American hero, and an excellent choice for the top job in National Security. Between him and Secretary Clinton, just imagine the improvement over the current batch. Never mind how confusing it's going to be with him and Wes Clark in the same Cabinet Room; "Mr. Clarke-with-an-e?"
Attorney General
Nadine Strossen
Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, 1991-Present
Executive Director of the ACLU, Nadine Strossen has been fighting for free speech and the constitutional rights of others since college. She's a Harvard grad with honorary degrees from many other universities, and she's been involved with every major civil rights initiative of the last twenty years. She'd be a kickass attorney general. I did want Alan Dershowitz for AG, but his position on the torture of terrorist detainees troubles me too much for him to get the job flat-out.
Secretary of the Treasury
Ann Richards
Texas Governor, 1991-1995
As Texas State Treasurer and later Governor, Ann Richards balanced her state's budget and even generated a $2 billion surplus. She modernized the treasury using computer technology. During her term as Governor, she increased social services without raising taxes--a pretty impressive accomplishment. Unfortunately, Texans picked some moron with a powerful daddy for governor in 1994.
Secretary of Commerce
Eliot Spitzer
State Attorney General, 1999-Present
This guy is hopefully the next governor of New York, but right now he's just their ass-kicking, corporate crime-busting Attorney General. As Secretary of Commerce he'd regulate the shit out of all these Enron-type companies, from AEP to Wal-Mart, both ripe for his trademark antitrust litigation. A modern trust-buster in the Theodore Roosevelt model, with Eliot working with and through Attorney General Strossen, there would finally be someone looking out for ordinary people over these monster corporations.
Secretary of Labor
Steve Rosenthal
Political Director AFL-CIO, 1996-2002; Executive Director America Coming Together, 2004-2005
Since I'd rather see Richard Gephardt run for Senate or the governorship of Missouri, I feel that someone with the union-related political and leadership experience of Steve Rosenthal is perfect for this role. Mr. Rosenthal is a long-time party loyalist who has worked hard to turn out union voters and Democrats in general.
Secretary of Education
Jonathan Kozol
Author and Educator
This is my favorite pick. Jonathan Kozol is a brilliant thinker and author on the subject of educational philosophy, and he is an expert on the number one problem with public education as it exists in America today: Inequality. His book Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools is the essential book on the subject. He's been writing on education and poverty since the 1960s, with his first book, Death at an Early Age, which is about the way poor urban children's dreams fade away due to the bleak life they're forced to acclimate themselves to. He's an expert on homelessness, illiteracy, and other social issues as well as education. Absolutely the best choice for this position, and a philosophy that's long overdue in this department.
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Carol Moseley Braun
US Senator, 1993-1999
Carol Moseley Braun is from Chicago, where she grew up and later ran for Senate, becoming the only black woman ever to serve as a US Senator. She was later Ambassador to New Zealand. Most of her career has been spent fighting for social services, and she is intimately acquainted with the problems of the urban poor. I can't think of a better-qualified person to head this department.
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Millard Fuller
Founder and President, Habitat for Humanity, 1976-Present
Mr. Fuller is a profoundly religious man who started Habitat for Humanity with his own personal fortune, and since then has worked tirelessly to build homes for the poor all over the world. President Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He runs Habitat based on the "economics of Jesus"--no profits, no interest. So he is a fundamentalist, but he seems to be the sort of liberal fundamentalist who values tolerance over judgment, and that's just fine. I'd like very much to see somebody who is serious about helping the poor head up HUD.
Secretary of Agriculture
Tom Harkin
US Senator, 1985-Present
Iowa's great senior senator is the ranking Democrat on the Agriculture Committee. He grew up in a farm town in a farm state and many of his constituents are involved in farming at some level. This would only be a practical appointment if he were planning to retire from the Senate, which he almost surely will before much longer.
Secretary of the Interior
Kathryn S. Fuller
President, World Wildlife Fund, 1989-Present
Kathryn Fuller is the head of the World Wildlife Fund, which, as I understand it, is a sort of a less-extreme Greenpeace or far less-extreme PETA. They're teriffic environmentalists who advocate the preservation of forests and other natural habitats for animals. Fuller's record as an environmental lawyer and advocate for non-profit organizations indicates to me that she'd be a good choice for this position. This makes two Fullers running departments in the Feingold administration, as well as two Clark/Clarkes, which will probably be extra confusing in cabinet meetings.
Secretary of Energy
Henry Waxman
US Congressman, 1974-Present
This long-time California congressman is a ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. He's been very vocal about Bush's theft of the 2000 election, issuing press releases and continuing to bring it up on the floor of the House. He represents part of Los Angeles that includes Beverly Hills, Malibu, and Santa Monica, which means he's dealt with Enron, Pacific Gas & Electric, and rolling blackouts, and that his constituents can be trusted to elect someone very good in his place. He seems like an extremely wise choice.
Secretary of Transportation
Nick J. Rahall
US Congressman, 1976-Present
Now in his thirteenth term as a member of the House of Representatives, Congressman Rahall sits on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, where he is the second most senior Democrat. He has given a lot of thought and attention to matters relating to transportation and its impact on the economy. The Nick J. Rahall Appalachian Transportation Institute at Marshall University studies these issues as they pertain to West Virginia and Appalachia. He has also been a tireless advocate of mine workers, pushing for benefits for sufferers of Black Lung Disease and, most recently, serving as the voice in Congress for the families of the miners who died in the 2006 cave-in disaster. He's even been called "the Congressman from the UMWA." Sounds like the perfect guy for the job.
Secretary of Homeland Security
Ray Nagin
Mayor of New Orleans, 2002-Present
Mayor Nagin's decisive, competent leadership in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina makes him my choice for the nation's chief disaster management and prevention officer. He has not been hesitant to criticize Bush and his cronies for their lax response to the needs of the poor in his city--the people who were hardest hit. He's been heavily criticized, I understand, and is thought of as someone who plays "the race card." But fuck that. After the way they depicted white people stealing food as "foraging" and black people doing the same as "looting," somebody had to stand up and defend the underprivileged in New Orleans. "Why didn't they just get in their cars and drive north?" the conservatives asked of the impoverished residents of Ward Four. Mayor Nagin has been the voice of Ward Four and other hard-hit regions where the poor were simply unable to flee ahead of the storm. As head of Homeland Security, Ray Nagin would concern himself with the problems of racial profiling and would bring first-hand experience with sudden disaster to the job.
Secretary of Veteran's Affairs
Max Cleland
US Senator, 1997-2003
This is a position Max Cleland has held before, during the Carter administration. I'd like to see him win back his Senate seat, but he probably won't do that until the guy who beat him (sickeningly) is up for re-election, in 2008. Cleland is a veteran and triple amputee who sits at the head of several veterans' organizations and would do an admirable job in this role, one which would also keep him in the spotlight. The way Saxby Chambliss ran his campaign was unethical and truly nauseating.
United States Delegate to the United Nations
Jimmy Carter
US President, 1977-1981
Former President Carter is an honest man who truly values peace and has worked toward the goal of world peace for decades. Widely considered America's finest ex-President, he recently won a frigging Nobel Peace Prize. Having him represent the US at the United Nations seems an ideal way to help the country work with and through that organization, rather than shitting on it, as is being done currently.
Drug Czar
Kurt Schmoke
Mayor of Baltimore, 1987-Present
The first-ever black mayor of Baltimore (hard to believe as that is) is my choice for the stupid-sounding job of "Drug Czar," because he's one of the very few prominent politicians willing to say we're wasting our money on the drug war. Give it up and look for progressive methods to get addicts off the streets and off drugs, and quit handing out life sentences to dealers and filling up our overcrowded prisons with drug "criminals."
Press Secretary
Flavia Colgan
Democratic Fundraiser and Political Consultant, PA State Politics
Also Secretary of Hotness. The super-hot Flavia Colgan is a Harvard grad who managed several statewide campaigns in Pennsylvania. Her press skills are impressive; she's currently one of the political consultants for MSNBC and GOP News/Fox News. She's a great speaker and also young and energetic. Did I mention how smoking hot she is? In addition to her formidable skills handling the press and conveying the liberal position in an understandable and competent way, I feel that she would lull hostile male reporters from the corporate media into a kind of trance and make them hesitant to report anything bad about her--or, by extension, the administration.
Chief of Staff
Paul Begala
Democratic Political Consultant and Advisor to President Clinton
My favorite political debater, he's such a sharp and thoughtful liberal that I'd imagine he'd be eminently useful as a chief advisor. His experience in Washington and knowledge of its ins and outs makes me think he'd be perfect as Chief of Staff, though in actuality, President Feingold would probably have someone from his Senate staff in mind for this position.
Justice of the United States Supreme Court
Ira Glasser
Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, 1978-2001
Mr. Glasser stood firmly for two decades at the head of the ACLU, winning constitutional victories whose positive impact will be felt for decades to come. All of America owes him a great debt for the work he's done to safeguard our civil rights. He has received innumerable awards, most prominently the Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award. Since he has retired from the ACLU I would love to see him serve his country for the remainder of his life as a Justice of the Supreme Court. At age 67 (as of 2005) he is young enough to give decades of service.
Justice of the United States Supreme Court
Barry Scheck
Attorney and Director of The Innocence Project, 1988-Present
Another legal hero, Barry Scheck (along with his partner, Peter Neufeld) has been fighting for the rights of the wrongfully convicted since 1988, when he founded The Innocence Project. His work against the death penalty and his tireless, selfless efforts on behalf of the legal rights of the poor would make him an essential addition to the court in this era of presumed guilt.
State Representation:
Alabama (1), Arkansas (2), California (1), Georgia (2), Iowa (1), Louisiana (1), Massachusetts (1), Missouri (1), New Jersey (1), New York (5), North Carolina (1), Pennsylvania (2), Texas (2), West Virginia (1), Wisconsin (1)
