Smart as a Rock: bush

The St. Petersburg Times (among many other online sites) is taking it upon themselves to personally keep track of every one of President Obama's campaign promises.

That's 510 promises made over the course of Obama's campaign.

So far, Barack is doing fairly well with 15 promises fulfilled, 4 compromises, 20 in the works, and only 2 broken promises.

I like the idea of keeping track of campaign promises and making it easy to access and understand for the general public. I don't remember if something like this was inplace for Clinton or Bush 43, but I hope this type of checks and balances continues throughout Obama's tenure as Prez. *It probably wasn't as popular back in '92 and 2000 simply due to the fact that the internet wasn't the incredible tool it is now.

Regardless of where you stand on Barack's promises, I think it is in the best interest of the political process for the promises he made to be kept. If the majority voted for him based on these campaign speeches, than the promises contained in the speeches should be the framework that he builds his administration on.

President-elect Obama now has under 2 months to fill out his cabinet. The importance of having a wise and balanced group of advisers around the most powerful man on the planet cannot be underestimated. I have 2 men that I would like to see in Barack's cabinet.

Secretary of State

W's: Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice

My Choice: Bill Richardson

I would love to see Bill Richardson in this position. He is the governor of New Mexico and was Bill Clinton's US Ambassador to the United Nations and also Clinton's Secretary of Energy. He has a track record of negotiating with adversaries abroad (such as North Korea). Richardson would also supply Obama with a much-needed Hispanic in his Cabinet-recognition that the president-elect owes a good part of his victory to the Latino vote.

Secretary of Defense

W's: Donald Rumsfeld, Robert Gates

My Choice: Chuck Hagel

It is widely considered that Robert Gates will stay on for an undetermined amount of time to provide a much needed amount of continuity to the situation in Iraq while Obama's administration gets up to speed. Chuck Hagel, the Nebraska GOP senator who has been alienated from his own party over his opposition to the Iraq war and harsh criticism of Bush, sees eye to eye with Obama on many issues. Hagel, a Vietnam veteran highly regarded for his political courage and sober views of military restraint, could well end up being Obama’s token Republican in the Cabinet.

And how can you not like a guy that dresses up like other politicians for Halloween, and goes to meetings like that?