Former Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean is making no secret of his dashed desires to become a member of President Obama's Cabinet, after he got passed over yet again for the job of health and human services secretary
"I was pretty clear that I would have liked to have been Secretary of HHS but it is the president's choice and he decided to go in a different direction," Dean was quoted saying on Monday in the Huffington Post after Obama made clear Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius was going to get the job.
Dean, who is a doctor and the former governor of Vermont, was talked about as a possible health secretary but was passed over for former Sen. Tom Daschle. After tax problems derailed Daschle's nomination, Dean got snubbed again.
Obama plans to announce his choice of Sebelius for the post Monday afternoon. She was the insurance commissioner for Kansas before getting elected governor, experience that helped convince administration officials she could handle the finer details of the debate over expanding access to health care.
Dean was not even vetted by the administration, and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel did not have a working relationship with him. White House officials expressed some concern about Dean's ability to work with the administration as part of the team.
There clearly were few good feelings between Obama and Dean. Dean was pretty much ignored during the campaign even though he had a major role in giving the Dems the majority in Congress in 2006.
I guess Obama wasn't confident that he could keep the volatile Dean under control.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment