Obama Appointments Continue

Steven Chu has been nominated to become Barack Obama's Energy Secretary. Winner of 1997's Nobel Prize for physics, Chu is currently director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and a professor at UC Berkeley. In announcing the pick, President-elect Obama essentially gave the current administration the back of his hand:

His appointment should send a signal to all that my Administration will value science, we will make decisions based on the facts, and we understand that the facts demand bold action.

In addition to Chu, Mr. Obama named Carol Browner as White House "energy czar" (real title: Energy Coordinator). Browner was head of the Environmental Protection Agency from 1993 to 2001 (under President Clinton). This is a new position that will oversee the smooth cooperation among the different energy and climate entities (Energy, Interior, EPA).

Signaling that he wants the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to take part in his economic recovery plan, President-elect Obama nominated New York City housing official Shaun Donovan as the department's secretary. Donovan, a 42-year-old Harvard-trained architect, oversees a $7.5 billion program in New York tasked with creating or preserving 165,000 affordable housing units as commissioner of the city's housing preservation and development agency.

And today, Mr. Obama will nominate Arne Duncan, the CEO of the Chicago Public School System, as his Secretary of Education.

I am surprised at this one. I thought for sure the President-elect would nominate Colin Powell for the post. Powell has a passion for education; and moreover, he would be a prominent Republican in a new administration that promised bipartisanship, but has yet to put a key Republican in any top posts (outside of Defense).

However, Duncan has turned the Chicago school system around, earning himself a reputation as a strong leader who is able to push for strong accountability while at the same time keeping the teachers union and the parents happy. Transition officials say Duncan has been tapped to try and bridge the deep national divides between education advocates, teachers unions, and civil rights groups over how to fix America's schools.

All in all, the difference in Obama's approach to government (experience, competence) couldn't be starker to the Bush administration's (cronyism, inexperience, failure). Our new president has made some stellar choices (for the most part) thus far.