Kathleen Sebelius: Secretary for Health and Human Services?
With Tom Daschle’s ignominious withdrawal from consideration as Secretary for Health and Human Services, all eyes are turned towards Kathleen Sebelius, Governor of the Great State of Kansas, as his likely replacement.
The focus on Sebelius is twofold. She’s a known entity who, along with Senator Claire McCaskill, risked a lot by backing Obama early in the primaries and formed the crucial “white middle-aged women politicians for Obama” club. More importantly for her potential role as HHS, she is living proof that it is possible to pass meaningful policy with Republicans.
I don’t expect many people on the coasts to even pay attention to Kansas politics (or, as my experience has shown, can even point to the state on a map), but Sebelius’s success is an extraordinary accomplishment. She could have taken complete advantage of The Great Schism of the Kansas Republican Party, a tale unto itself, and rammed through her agenda. Instead, Sebelius made an alliance with moderate Republicans and maintained a respectful discourse/cooperation with the more extreme members of the state GOP. She managed to pursue and pass multiple policies during her two terms in office that led Time Magazine to rate her one of the five best governors in the country.
From a purely selfish standpoint, I hope she turns down the HHS job and finishes her term as governor. She can put a rest to the ridiculous coal plant proposals and then run for Sam Brownback’s seat in 2010—fivethirtyeight.com has her starting 10 points ahead of a generic Republican. It would be nice to have a Democratic senator for the first time since the 1930s… Read more…
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