Transition to test president’s leadership

By Alex Ndegwa and Agencies

Political analysts suggest the way US president-elect Barack Obama handles the 11-week transition period can chart the course for the beginning of his term.

Obama cannot afford the luxury of waiting, given the high expectations by the electorate and circumstances in which he was taking the reins of power. The US is witnessing the worst economic crisis since the great depression in the 1940s. Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell is expected to serve as a foreign policy adviser.

Obama aides are also looking at candidates for secretary for state and those touted include Republican Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Massachusetts Democratic Senator John Kerry. Kerry told a Boston TV station on Tuesday night that he would consider a position. The next appointment Obama will make is likely to be a treasury secretary charged with steering the economy through its worst crisis in 80 years.

The top candidate is Larry Summers, 53, who performed the same job under Clinton. Another strong candidate is Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve, one of the key figures in the bailout plans. Obama’s national security team is another priority as the country fights wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It could also be an area where he goes outside his party for an appointee. According to CNN, Republican Senator Chuck Hagel and current Defence Secretary Robert Gates are among the names being floated around. Hagel, who was elected to the Senate in 1996 and is a Vietnam veteran, has been a fierce critic of the Bush administration’s handling of the Iraq war.

Gates has served in Bush’s Cabinet for almost two years and there is speculation Obama will leave him in place for at least a year. Gates worked for the Central Intelligence Agency for 27 years, serving as its director from 1991 through to 1993. He also served as deputy national security adviser under President George H W Bush. John Podesta, a former chief of staff under President Clinton, is among those leading Obama’s transition team. Podesta’s name is reportedly being tossed around in the rumour mill as a possible Obama administration official. ABC News reported the Chicago native tried to quell rumours that he would join the Obama White House in an internal memo to Centre for American Progress Action Fund colleagues this week, in which he reportedly said he would return to the CAPAF after the transition period.

Obama’s top foreign policy adviser, Susan Rice, is another potential White House administration official. Robert Gibbs, one of Obama’s top aides, is a possible candidate for the position of White House press secretary. Gibbs helped lead the campaign’s communication team as the senior strategist for communications and message. While the White House position has not been officially offered or accepted, many believe Gibbs would be the right man for the job.