Napolitano? Janet Napolitano?
According to “multiple” sources cited by CNN, the Arizona Governor is Obama’s top choice for Homeland Security Secretary in his cabinet. This amazes me, not because I don’t think we could do worse as David Weigel suggests, but because I thought we could surely do better!
I know Napolitano. I think she’s more of a politician than an executive. In my last interview with her (which you can listen to here), she told me that the citizens of Scottsdale, Arizona loved the speed cameras on their freeways and that the state would be expanding the photo enforcement program as a result of its success. When I suggested we put her theory about its popularity to the test by allowing voters to decide (as the legislature had endorsed), she said she didn’t think it should go to a vote. (No shit.) And of course the cameras weren’t revenue-raising devices, she said: all the money raised would go back to funding the program. (Not true!)
For a governor who wouldn’t deal with the border issue in Arizona, it’s incredible that she’s being vetted as Homeland Security Secretary. Maybe they just look at their choices and say to Obama, ‘Hey, she’s a Democrat Governor from the border state of Arizona, surely she knows something about security! Plus, did you know she was one of the White House Project’s eight in ’08?’
I guess none of this comes as a surprise. So far, Obama’s team – far from representing the Fresh Face of Change that everyone thought they were voting for – has been made up largely of Clinton-era cronies. I hope this all isn’t as bad as it looks! I’m trying to remain optimistic!