Who's more effective than Ted Kennedy in the Senate to push forward the next administration's Healthcare agenda? Before we tackle the healthcare issue, let's review the discussion we've been having lately around building the Obama's administration.
Considering the current financial crisis, we all know the economy is the No. 1 issue and, it will remain so until we see some signs of recovery in the US and around the world. It'll be long before that happens. Just early today, we heard that Japan was also in recession** after Europe (UK, Germany, Italy) already experienced theirs.
**Recession is defined as at least two consecutives quarters or six months of a negative economic growth which is measured by GDP (Gross Domestic Product) or total of products and services produced by a country over a specified period, usually a year)
Japan's economy, the second largest in the world, imports about $63 billion from the US. No need to tell you the impact on the US economy. This situation only emphasizes the importance of issue No. 1 on President-elect Obama's agenda. Also if you remember at the end of the campaign, when CNN Wolf Plizter asked Obama "which would be his top priority among health care reform, energy independence, tax cuts for the middle class, education spending or immigration reform, Obama answered:
"Top priorities may not be any of those five. It may be continuing to stabilize the financial system. We don't know yet what's going to happen in January. And none of this can be accomplished if we continue to see a potential meltdown in the banking system or the financial system. So that's priority number one, making sure that the plumbing works in our capitalist system.
"Priority number two of the list have put forward I think has to be energy independence. We have to seize this moment because it is not just an energy independence issue, it is also a national security issue and it is a jobs issue. And we can create 5 million new green energy jobs with a serious program.
"Priority number three would be health care reform. I think the time is right to do it. Priority number four is making sure that we have tax cuts for the middle class and part of a broader tax reform effort. Priority number five I think would be making sure that we have an education system that works for our children."
When it comes to the next administration, so far the names mentioned are diverse (rivals, bipartisans) in the following posts:
Chief of Staff: Rahm Emanuel as we already know
Attorney General: Eric Holder
EPA Head: Robert F. Kennedy?
Treasury Secretary
Secretary of State: Hillary Clinton?
Defense Secretary: Robert Gates?
Secretary of Energy
Secretary of Education: Caroline Kennedy
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