Video- President Obama Speaks to Press After Cabinet Meeting

Obama Holds Cabinet Retreat

Oh to be a fly on the wall.

"At the six-month mark amid polls showing slipping public support for his ideas, President Barack Obama is convening the Cabinet for a two-day huddle," the Washington Examiner reports.

Said spokesman Robert Gibbs: "It's an opportunity for the president, the vice president, senior White House staff and Cabinet officials all to get together and talk about the agendas both past and forward, [and] how we can continue to work together to make progress."

"The group will gather at Blair House and the White House Conference Center, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. They will dine together today and meet again Saturday."

Hilda Solis sworn in at Labor

She'd been in a "secret" hold for eons. About time.

(CNN) — Vice President Joe Biden swore in California Rep. Hilda Solis as the next Secretary of Labor Friday Morning, one of three cabinet posts that had yet to be formally filled.

"When she held hearings on sweatshops she was heard," Biden sad of Solis Friday. "When she fought to protect low income and minority communities from landfill and pollution and environmental hazards - she was heard. And in Congress, when she stood up, she stood up to level the playing field for workers to organize - she was heard."

Rachel Maddow Show- President Obama Names New Drug Czar

Dr Gupta doesn't go to Washington

This smells a little funny, especially the part about him discussing it on Larry King Live. Paging Dr Dean?

Cancel that page: The White House is not calling Dr. Sanjay Gupta to be the nation's surgeon general.

CNN is reporting this afternoon that its well-known medical correspondent has withdrawn from consideration, and will talk more about it tonight on "Larry King Live."

Gupta would have been one of the most visible personalities in that job, but critics questioned whether he could have been an independent voice on public health matters.

h/t Dr President.

Obama Nominates Sebelius to Lead HHS

Rahm Emanuel On "Face The Nation"

Rahm needs to get on these things more often. More transcript here.

SCHIEFFER: We talked about Newt Gingrich a lot this morning and now you bring up Rush Limbaugh. Who do you think now speaks for the Republican Party?

EMANUEL: You just named him: it is Rush Limbaugh. He has laid out his vision, in my view. And he said it clearly. I compliment him for that. He's been very up front and I compliment him for that. He's not hiding. He's asked for President Obama and called for President Obama to fail. That's his view. And that's what he has enunciated. And whenever a Republican criticizes him, they have to run back and apologize to him and say they were misunderstood. He is the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party

President Obama Introduces Commerce Secretary Nominee Gary Locke

Hilda Solis nomination vote -- confirmed, 80-17

Yeah!!! Via Kagro X aka Dave.

Solis's appointment matters. As pointed out by several commentators, she is reminiscent of Frances Perkins, who served as Secretary of Labor throughout FDR's four terms, the first woman in any Cabinet post, and a liberal before that term meant what it does today. Historians generally agree that she persuaded Roosevelt to push some of the most important New Deal legislation.

Solis would arguably be the most liberal appointee in Obama's Cabinet. Daughter of immigrant father who became a Teamster organizer at a battery recycling factory and an immigrant mother who worked a factory line, she's never been one to give mere lip service to labor issues. She was a key player in a hard-won voter-initiative fight over the California minimum wage, an increase of which then-Gov. Pete Wilson had vetoed. She's been solidly behind environmental protections, particularly in the arena of environmental justice. Having been raised near a landfill east of Los Angeles, she authored 1999 state legislation that called for "the fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and incomes with respect to the development, adoption, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws," the first such law in the nation.

For that effort, in 2000, she was the first woman to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award

Rural-health advocate pegged for Obama Health post

Very nice move. The lack of rural health care is one of those issues that it's very easy to put a literal "face" on.

President Obama might not have a Health and Human Services (HHS) nominee yet, but he announced his choice to lead a lesser-known agency within the department Friday.

Mary Wakefield, a nurse and academic who focuses on rural health issues, is Obama’s nominee to be administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the White House announced.

“As a nurse, a Ph.D. and a leading rural healthcare advocate, Mary Wakefield brings expertise that will be instrumental in expanding and improving services for those who are currently uninsured or underserved,” President Obama said.

BREAKING (Kinda, sorta, well maybe) Obama Picks Sebelius for HHS

Bummer, I was still holding out for Dr Dean. Oh well, BREAKING!!!

President Obama has settled on Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), a key ally with a record of working across party lines, as his top choice for secretary of health and human services, the New York Times reports.

Four Cabinet Vacancies Remain

Solis is tied up in the Senate by asshat Republicans, but I don't know about the other guy. Via Taegan-

The CQ Cabinet Tracker shows that two Obama picks -- Rep. Hilda Solis, for Labor secretary, and former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, for trade representative -- were announced on December 19 yet remain unconfirmed. We've heard very little about the reason for the delay.

The two other openings are at Commerce, where Sen. Judd Gregg was just nominated, and HHS, where Obama now needs to find a replacement for Tom Daschle.

Hillary confirmed by Senate 94-2

The two voting nay were of course the biggest dickwads of the Senate, Vitter and DeMint. Not even Cornyn and Lugar (who had legitimate concerns) voted against her.

First press gaggle: "Oh my god, they're at work!"

By GottaLaff

Today was the first press gaggle with Robert Gibbs. Chuck Todd teared up.

We said, "Oh my god, they're at work!"
--Chuck Todd

He went on to say that Hillary Clinton was not confirmed today, although many other cabinet members were. This is insult, not injury, says Keith, but she will be confirmed.

Senate plans Inauguration Day votes on Obama nominees

Nice. Never heard of this happening when the R's were in charge.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Senate will be in session at 3 pm on Inauguration Day, primarily to confirm several top Obama nominees. It’s unclear who will be confirmed, but there is a list of nominees whose confirmations could be called up as early as Tuesday.

It’s known Senate leaders hoped to clear most of the national security-related positions, but there is no final list who will be confirmed Tuesday, and Democrats and Republicans say they may not know until the afternoon.

The confirmations will have to be approved by unanimous consent, meaning no senators object to the person being confirmed. There are no roll call votes scheduled Tuesday.

President-elect Obama's cabinet nominees: The chart

By GottaLaff

CQ Politics has a chart of P.E. Obama's cabinet nominees and a description and status of each. Here's a partial screen shot, but to see it properly and completely, go here:

(click on image to enlarge)

John Warner bucks GOP-ers, backs Holder

This is interesting. Won't stop the R's from screeching about Mark Rich and Puerto Rican terrorists, but nevertheless interesting.

Sen. Arlen Specter and other Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee may want to derail or slow down Eric Holder’s nomination to become the next attorney general, but one of their just departed colleagues is going to bat for the nominee.

Former Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), who just stepped down from the Senate after 30 years in the body, will appear on behalf of Holder during Thursday’s Judiciary Committee hearing, according to Sen. Patrick Leahy’s (D-Vt.) office. Leahy is the chairman of the panel.

Warner and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) will introduce Holder to the Judiciary panel, and they will offer strong support for his nomination to the AG post.

Ted Kennedy sets confirmation hearings for Obama nominees

By GottaLaff

Teddy is amazing. What a rock he is:

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has scheduled several confirmation hearings in early January to help ensure Barack Obama's Cabinet is in place soon after he is sworn into the White House.

Kennedy, chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, announced Tuesday that his panel would hold a confirmation hearing on Jan. 8 for Tom Daschle, Obama's choice to head the Department of Health and Human Services, and another one on Jan. 9 to consider the nomination of Rep. Hilda Solis to be Obama's Labor secretary. The panel on Jan. 13 will then hear testimony from Arne Duncan, who Obama wants to run the Education Department.

Which Republicans will try to jam those gears? Or are they content to wait for Eric Holder?

Women's groups miffed at Obama

By GottaLaff

This is what happens when you're the Decider:

Obama is taking the big-tent approach to governing and wanted a Cabinet that stretches the tent wide. [...]

It might be diverse, but not everyone is happy. Some women's groups are disappointed. Among Obama's strongest backers during the election, they now say they don't have enough seats at the table.

That's because of Obama's 20 announced Cabinet-level posts, five went to women: Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as homeland security secretary, Sen. Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, Rep. Hilda Solis as labor secretary, Susan Rice as United Nations ambassador and Lisa Jackson as Environmental Protection Agency chief. [...]

Amy Siskind, co-founder of the nonpartisan group New Agenda, accuses Obama of taking "shocking steps backward" and said "this constituency does not matter to the president-elect."

Obama has said he's picking people for their skills and not pandering to special interests.

The polls show that 3/4 of Americans think he's getting it right. Bill Clinton and President [sic] Bush each had a comparable number of women in their first Cabinets.

But it's not just women who are angry with Obama's choices. Other factions in the Democratic Party are, too.

Many gay and lesbian supporters are irate over Obama choosing Pastor Rick Warren to lead the invocation at the historic January 20 inauguration. [...]

Some progressives, meanwhile, are also disappointed that Obama has tapped moderates for key positions. [...]

Obama's team privately says wait and see. They feel it's too early to criticize his choices before they've even had a chance to be sworn in.

Today a local progressive talk show host agreed with Thom Hartmann (as noted in my post about Rev. Rick Warren): If liberal Dems aren't inclusive, then they're no better than the very people they've been at odds with over the past eight years. The GOP would have nothing to do with progressives, he went on to say, and asked why we should we become the lefty version of a group like that.

Obama finalizes cabinet

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President-elect Obama announces Rep. Hilda Solis as his labor secretary, Republican Rep. Ray LaHood of Illinois for transportation secretary, Dennis Blair as Director of National Intelligence and Ron Kirk as trade representative.