News Summary

As President-elect Barack Obama continues to build his Cabinet, nationally syndicated columnist Clarence Page expects there will be a lot of news out of the nation's capital.

"It's a delightful challenge," he said.

Page, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and a 1965 Middletown High School graduate, first met Obama when the president-elect ran for the Illinois state Senate.

"I was really impressed," Page said.

He said he hoped Obama was the real deal. After Obama won that seat in the state Senate, Page said he was impressed with the ethical way Obama ran his office and that he was a consensus builder.

After serving three terms as a state senator, Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004 from Illinois. When asked what Obama's biggest accomplishment was during his nearly four years in the Senate, Page said it was the ethics legislation that Obama co-sponsored to decrease the transparency of spending of lobbyists with Congress.

Page said the effort also included working with Sen. John McCain, Obama's 2008 presidential opponent, to get the legislation adopted. The law enables anyone to check online to see how much a lobbyist may have spent on a senator or representative or their staffs.

"If you look at the way Obama ran his campaign, that should give everyone a sense of confidence that he'll do a good job as president," he said.

Although the nation's economic situation and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will continue to command Obama's attention even before he's sworn in on Jan. 20, Page thinks there will also be more discussion on health care.

He said Sen. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, is working on legislation for health care reform, including universal coverage.

"A lot of us are wondering if that will be something he (Obama) does in the first 100 days," Page said. Will he push for it with the economy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? I suspect he will."

While Obama wants to set a timetable to withdraw U.S, forces from Iraq, Page thinks that will be slowed by Iraq's stability, even though the U.S. appears to be on a pullout track.

Future Cabinet choices and new chief of staff

Now that the election is over, there continues to be a lot of speculation on who will be selected to join the 44th president's Cabinet. Page noted many of the suggestions that have been published are trial balloons to gauge reaction.

He said it might be a good idea to keep current Defense Secretary Robert Gates for continuity's sake and also because he is pragmatic.

Page said suggestions to appoint New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton or New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson could also be some good ideas. Both were candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.

As for Gen. Colin Powell, who served as President Bush's first secretary of state, Page said the speculation of Powell being appointed secretary of education was "wishful thinking," even though he thinks Powell would do a great job.

Page said Obama's decision to appoint Rep. Rahm Emanuel, as his White House chief of staff "was a good pick because he's not an ideologue. He's very pragmatic."

Page, who has known Emanuel since the 1980s when they appeared on local television news shows in Chicago, described the chief of staff as being "very bright, very sharp and very focused," Page said. "He'll be a real asset."

"Obama needs good relations with Congress but it has to be orderly and he needs a gatekeeper," Page said.

The GOP's future in 2012 and beyond

"The way things look now, (Alaska Gov.) Sarah Palin and (Louisiana Gov.) Bobby Jindal are the people to watch in the Republican Party," Page said. "Jindal is the Republican's version of Barack Obama."

He said Jindal has built a good reputation in helping to rebuild his state following the devastation left from Hurricane Katrina. Page said Jindal also played a prominent role during last week's meeting of the Republican Governors Association.

Page said the Republicans "need to put some juice in their purpose."

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2836 or erichter@coxohio.com.