Obama’s Transition Team Includes Seven Openly Gay Advisors, Openly Gay Hildebrand Could Replace Dean

[tekisui]

In a spirit of inclusion and transparency in government, President-Elect Barack Obama has chosen seven openly gay transition officials to assist in preparing for the new administration, with details about the transition team appearing online for public inspection.

The online resource at Change.gov explains the role played by the transition team, saying that "The Presidential Transition Project is the enormous effort of hundreds of people coming together to lay out the agenda and priorities for the Obama Administration," and explaining that, "the transition is responsible for ensuring that the transfer of power from the current administration to the Obama Administration is smooth and that the continuity of leadership is preserved."


(snip)

The Blade noted that three out of the seven--Roberta Achtenberg, formerly a city supervisor in San Francisco, Fred P. Hochberg, a businessman, and Elaine Kaplan, a labor lawyer--also served in the Clinton administration.

The three remaining openly gay appointees were identified in the article as the Center for American Progress’ Brad Kiley; online publishing mogul and CEO and president of Web-based news resource Smartbrief, Inc., Rick Stamberger; and clean-tech investment fund innovator Thomas Soto, who co-founded Craton Equity Partners.


(snip)

The Blade recollected that during his tenure with the Clinton administration, Holder had established a unit to prosecute hate crimes, as well as having talked with GLBT leaders about anti-gay bias crimes.

More speculation concerned the replacement for outgoing chair of the Democratic national Committee, Howard Dean; openly gay Steve Hildebrand, who served as Obama’s deputy campaign manager, has been cited in rumors as possibly succeeding Dean.

http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=&sc2=news&sc3=&id=83582

[msongs]

1. well if they can't have full equality, at least they have a job nt

[Hope And Change]

2. This guy is a genious.He would be a great pick.

[Alter Ego]

3. Hildebrand as DNC head, eh?

If he gets Dean's spot, what will the handwringers here say?

The 50-state strategy won't die--you know that much.

[Coexist]

5. they'll cry and whine that Dean wasn't; thanked enough or something

they won't admit they may have been wrong.

Or they'll ignore it and move on to "expose" some other area where democrats are wrong.

[WI_DEM]

15. I think Dean himself has said he isn't seeking another term, and yes, he deserves a lot of the

thanks for what the party has accomplished in his four years: gaining over 50 new house seats, a dozen senate seats, governorships, legislative seats--he was a very good head of the DNC.

[nichomachus]

8. Maybe if you spent less time calling fellow DUers names

second thought -- forget it -- that ain't gonna happen.

[bunnies]

4. Maybe if you had a nasty title...

people would pay more attention. :eyes:

K&R anyway.

[Thrill]

6. Oh but he isn't a progressive. Progressives are being left out

YAWN

[Forkboy]

9. You could probably take that up in the thread about it, no?

And challenge the ONE person who just made that claim.

[Cha]

10. Obama is Progressive..this whole admin

is Progress.

What we need is patience.

[bdamomma]

16. I agree

patience is the word.

[Perky]

7. Steve Hildebrand has said that he does not want the job

[terrya]

11. Good for President-elect Obama

I'm glad gay and lesbian people are being included in the formation of our new government. I'd hate to think that we weren't included in the Obama Administration.

[Sebastian Doyle]

12. Can we get off the identity politics already?

Yes, inclusiveness in the cabinet is a good thing. But let's focus on what really matters....

Do you want a "gay" chairman of the party, or do you want a chairman who continues on with the work Howard Dean has done to restore this party. If a "gay" Terry McAulliffe got the job, would anybody in their right mind think that was a GOOD thing?

Yes the possibility of an African American Attorney General is a good thing. But will Eric Holder be the type of Attorney General this country NEEDS right now? Will he hold the Bush Crime Family accountable for what they have done to this country? Will he undo any of the corporatist damage of the last 28 years?

Should our secretary of state be "a woman" or should it be someone who is capable of changing the way the world views America because of the disastrous Bush/PNAC foreign policy? And how could someone who was a vocal supporter of that insane foreign policy right up until Super Tuesday possibly fill that role?

Don't give me a cabinet that "looks" like America, give me one that THINKS and ACTS like America.

[LostinVA]

13. OMFG -- *whoosh*

[terrya]

14. This is the TRANSITION.

Goddamn, was there ANYTHING in that article that stated there would be a gay or lesbian Cabinet Secretary???

I mean, seriously. We can't openly serve in the United States Government??? What kind of bullshit is that??

[Sebastian Doyle]

18. That's not what I said at all.

I just want qualified people who represent the direction this country should be going in these positions. I don't want the decision being made on basis of sexual orientation, or gender, or "race", or any other sort of "token" factors.

If the best person for that job happens to be gay, great. If not, also great. Because if we move this fucking country in the proper direction, maybe we can get to a point where nobody would ever NOT hire somebody because they were gay. Or black. Or whatever excuse someone has for bigotry.

[iamthebandfanman]

17. so this is supposed to make up for seperate and not equal?

sorry, but i fail to see how this is supposed to make up for their non-involvement in getting people civil rights?

theyll have to do alot more than appointing an openly gay person to a position. sounds like a gimmick to me. we'll see tho.