Cabinet Choices for Change

Dear American people:

These are some names I’d love to see in the next President’s Cabinet. Who are your choices? Do you know visionary thinkers, with strong Green, ethical, and social justice credentials, who are also good administrators? Add your choices (or echo mine) in the comment section. (And speaking of ethics…Obama’s transition team has an excellent ethics mandate that is a welcome change from the corruption of the last couple of administrations–I expect to blog about it in detail when I get a chance.) Meanwhile, here’s what I’d suggest to Senator Obama, who might actually listen.

Dear Senator Obama,

On the strength of your call for change, your overall vision, your coolness under fire, and lots of other reasons–you are likely to become the next President of the United States. Here are some people who can really implement that change we will elect you to bring.

Secretary of State
Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations. (I could find nothing requiring that Cabinet Secretaries have to be U.S. citizens.)

Secretary of the Treasury
Hazel Henderson, futurist, ethicist, and Green economist. Alternative: Paul Krugman, Nobel Laureate and NY Times columnist.

Secretary of Defense
Gene Sharp, America’s foremost researcher on nonviolent alternatives to military–shifting the focus to actually defending the country. Alternate: Cindy Sheehan.

Attorney General
Michael Ratner, head of the Center for Constitutional Rights and one of the leading lawyers defending against the radical right-wing abrogation of rights at Guantanamo and elsewhere.

Secretary of the Interior
Winona LaDuke, Native American (Ojibwe) and environmental activist, extremely smart. Nader’s running mate in 2000.

Secretary of Agriculture
Annie Cheatham, former director of Communities Involved in Sustainable Agriculture in Deerfield, Massachusetts, one of the most successful community organizations nationwide in promoting local, sustainable farming, and one that grew enormously during her tenure.

Secretary of Commerce
Judy Wicks, restaurant owner and founder of Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, a national group working to support local business.

Secretary of Labor
Alisa Gravitz, Executive Director of Coop America/Green America.

Secretary of Health and Human Services
Cynthia McKinney, former member of Congress from Georgia, strong crusader for the rights of poor people, for an economy based on peace and sustainability.

Secretary of Homeland Security
Juan Gonzalez, Pulitzer and Polk-winning investigative journalist, co-host of the award-winning news and public affairs show Democracy Now, New York Post reporter, former Visiting Professor in Public Policy and Administration at Brooklyn College, and former president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, author of three books including one on the aftermath of the World Trade Center attack, who has covered both terrorism and police issues for many years. Alternate: Richard Clarke, former security advisor to President Bush.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Ron Dellums, long-time Congressman and Mayor from Oakland, CA. Alternate: Rev. Jesse Jackson.

Secretary of Transportation
A mass transit advocate willing to learn from the amazing example of Curitiba, Brazil, which created a bus system as efficient as any train system, at a fraction of the cost.

Secretary of Energy
Amory Lovins, energy visionary who understands not only the need to convert to renewable, nonpolluting resources, but the need to do it in ways that come out of abundance and not deprivation–that actually increase business profitability AND quality of life. Has been on the forefront of this movement since at least 1975.

Secretary of Education
Senator Hillary Clinton: Smart, aggressive, and a long-time leader on education.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Michael T. McPhearson, Executive Director of Veterans for Peace.