Goodbye Powell, Rummy, and Ashcroft (maybe)

[sweetnpetite]

Secretary of state

AP
Colin Powell is seen as staying for several months or longer, retiring at a time of his choosing rather than under the cloud of the Iraq war.
John Danforth, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and a diplomatic trouble-shooter for Bush, may succeed Powell. He is a former Missouri senator.

Defense secretary


Getty Images
Donald Rumsfeld likely will stay on for a year or two to continue restructuring the U.S. military.
National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, if speculation holds true, could take Rumsfeld’s place to become the first female defense secretary. But her current and former colleagues say she has shown little interest in the Pentagon job.


National security adviser


Getty Images
Rice may stay, though a departure would be left up to her. Friends say she wants to go home to California.
Possible successors include Stephen Hadley, deputy national security adviser, and Robert Blackwill, Rice’s coordinator for strategic planning.

Treasury secretary

AP
President Bush seems likely to allow John Snow to choose when and whether he wants to leave the post, and analysts expect him to stay on at least temporarily to push domestic issues such as permanent tax cuts.
Possible successors include Andrew Card, Bush’s White House chief of staff, and Trade Representative Robert Zoellick.

Attorney general

Reuters
John Ashcroft, who has become a target of criticism by Democrats and civil liberties groups over the anti-terror policies implemented after Sept. 11, 2001, is expected to leave and may cite recent health problems as a reason.
Possible successors include Ashcroft’s former deputy, Larry Thompson, White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and Bush’s campaign chairman Marc Racicot.

Secretary of homeland security

AP
Tom Ridge is expected to leave after being the first person to fill the post created in the months following the Sept. 11 attacks.
Possible successors include: Asa Hutchinson, one of Ridge’s undersecretaries; Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who successfully oversaw security at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City; and Thomas Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey who co-chaired the independent Sept. 11 commission.

Commerce secretary

AP
Donald Evans is seen by some as quitting to return home to Texas.
Possible successors include Mercer Reynolds III, who served as finance chairman of Bush’s re-election campaign.

U.S. trade representative

AP
Robert Zoellick is expected to leave, but there are no leading candidates to succeed him.
Possible successors include Gary Edson, former deputy assistant to the president for international economic affairs, and Grant Aldonas, undersecretary of commerce for international trade.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6405260/?GT1=5809

 

[Wildcard Ky]

My gut tells me Guiliani (sp?) may wind up in the cabinet. My first thought would be in the AG spot vacated by Ashcroft.

He's a former DA in NYC with some high profile convictions.

 

[Pure]

We haven't seen the last of Ashcroft or his ilk. Let's not dream in technicolor.

Rummy and other pimps can of course be shifted around; take posts in private industry-- board of Bechtel. Defense industry heads can be brought into cabinet to replace him and others. There's lucrative speaking engagements for the out-going.

The real question is, 'will there be any change of direction' (in the direction that Sweet hopes). There's no evidence of it; indeed, "W" now has his mandate, and that's no doubt how God wanted it.

===
Added 11-05

I did see a CNN thing about Ashcroft and possible easing out, with 'health' as an explanation. So I will moderate what I said. Even with him gone, I don't picture repeal of large portions of the Patriot Acts, nor a slacking of the old 'regulate' the internet issue.
Further, except for Guiliani, the replacements mentioned did not seem very different. And my hunch is it won't be Giuliani; too liberal; wouldn't fit in. Further has no political benefit since NYC is 5 to 1 Democratic.