Cabinet picks

Glenn Greenwald and human rights attorney Scott Horton both have a high opinion of Eric Holder as a nominee for Attorney General. They think it's likely that he will enforce the rule of law and has sufficient integrity to avoid becoming a simple partisan in the job.

Surprisingly to me, Joe Conason makes The Case for Robert Gates New York Observer as Obama's first Secretary of Defense (New York Observer 11/18/08). I think it would be a bad, possibly disastrous pick. But Conason has a more benign view. Much of his favorable view has to do with Gates' participation with the Iraq Study Group (ISG). But the ISG recommended something different that what The Surge turned out to be. And Gates signed on with Bush to implement The Surge.

For less favorable views of the current Defense Secretary, see these pieces at CorsortiumNews.com: Robert Gates: As Bad as Rumsfeld? by Ray McGovern 11/19/08; The Danger of Keeping Robert Gates by Robert Parry 11/13/08; and a whole slew of others.

Tags: eric holder, robert gates

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