Clinton's possible cabinet choices under scrutiny by liberal Democrats as she heads for election day

Lael Brainard

As election day grows closer and the polls show Hillary Clinton with a substantial lead, many are wondering what a Clinton cabinet will look like. With over 30 years of public service it’s not hard to see that it would reflect a strong measure of diversity in both gender and race. While the candidate herself has demurred, and said to inquiring reporters, “No I really haven’t. I’m a little superstitious about that,” the likelihood that a short list exists, even at the bottom of a desk drawer, is not without warrant.

Recent discussions have focused on Jake Sullivan, as national security adviser, and former under secretary of defense in the Obama Administration Michèle A. Flournoyas for defense secretary. Perhaps the most coveted, and most scrutinized would be that of Secretary of State, and according to Vanity Fair, speculation centered on both Tom Donilon, head of Clinton’s transition team, and William Burns, a former deputy secretary of state, for Clinton’s former job. He is known for being a low-key and loyal team player,  qualities that she highly prizes

Holding a distinct advantage of having worked with most of the people that she would appoint, she will not have to review resumes in the conference room, to identify key candidates for the top jobs. But, that also might make jockeying for her attention, more important than those for Donald Trump.  Reports from Washington is that some of those identified have been keeping in touch with key advisors and, those on the transition team, with revised resumes. While speculation can run rampant, in a feverish campaign, surprises can also come with dark horse candidates coming to the foreground. Witness the speculation --- almost surefooted -- that national security advisor would go to either James B. Steinberg, or Gregory B. Craig, former Clinton presidency veterans, for the Obama administration.

Low hanging fruit is available from disaffected, and disavowed Republicans, among them Michael V. Hayden, formerly of the CIA and National Security Administration, and also Robert B. Zoelick, former U.S. trade rep, thus increasing the wide range of candidates with extensive experience.

Guessing games on who will be appointed, as well as the losers, are a constant game in Washington, whenever there is a new president, but this one also takes on a different color due to how transition teams will now act. The New York Times reported that new laws targeting the transition experience will make it easier, even for those of the same party; far removed from some of the lined yellow legal sheets of paper, with possible candidate names that Jacqueline Kennedy found, from JFK, found strewn about the library of  her Georgetown home.

With election day just around the corner, few are talking so as to not appear presumptuous, and Ken Salazar, heading the Clinton transition team would only talk around the issue, without revealing any details. But, Clinton’s familiarity with most of the players and their teams from her past roles as U.S. first lady and secretary of state, gives her the advantage of knowing whom she should hire.

While there is some sidebar discussion away from these choices, due to another trove of unmeasured and defined emails, from the private server, on a laptop belonging to a top Clinton aide; no one expects the speculation on possible cabinet choices to be eliminated, as election day draws closer.

Ideological differences will be taken into consideration, especially by such left of center advocates such as Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, which may tilt Clinton away from her more established centrist views, and people. An example is who might be treasury secretary -- against a Wall Street choice, a favorite bete-noire of the liberal camp in favor of one, who, as Sanders noted last week, “. . . is prepared to take on the greed and recklessness of Wall Street, not someone who comes from Wall Street.”

As the Times noted, Clinton is under pressure by liberals to move to a more populist approach, and away from some of her previous remarks that suggest a lean, if not outright sympathy, to Wall Street and its denizens. In fact, Dan Cantor, the national director of the Working Families Party, said she would not be given the honeymoon, that liberal dissenters gave President Obama.

Leading the contenders for treasury secretary is Lael Brainard, a Federal Reserve governor, who advocates against taking interest rates higher. The choice, as far as gender alone, would be a first for the nation. But, she and her boss, Fed Chief, Janet Yellen received some sharp attention by lawmakers last month, when it was discovered that she “gave the Clinton campaign $2,700, the maximum permitted individual donation, in four contributions between mid-November and February, according to Federal Election Commission records,” reported the Wall Street Journal.

Rep. Scott Garrett said during a House Financial Services Committee hearing that the donations created “an appearance of conflict, citing unspecified media reports,” saying that Brainard “is angling for a top job with the Clinton administration if Hillary wins,” noted the Journal.

Yellen, in turn noted that the donations were lawful, and that she had no knowledge of any contact from the Clinton campaign and Brainard.  This brought about a waggish comment from one source, who spoke on deep background, since he is not authorized to comment: “If that’s all [the money] it takes to become treasury secretary, then the Clintons are asking very little.”

Over the last year, the Federal Reserve has been criticized by the Republican establishment and by Donald Trump in particular, that the Fed is shilling for the Obama administration.

Meanwhile Clinton is toeing the line on the slow dragging economy, not losing, but not winning especially with wage growth, which last month showed only a modest increase. She has said, ‘My primary mission as President will be to create more opportunity and more good jobs with rising wages right here in the United States.”

Clinton also had to step away from the TPP to make herself more palatable to the liberal wing; a move that would force her as president to also  ”navigate the lame-duck debate,” as Fortune Magazine noted, as Obama attempts a twilight triage on it.

Clinton clearly wants to look at investment and growth, to jumpstart the economy, something she suggested in her speeches to Wall Street, courtesy of Wikileaks, where she noted that she dreamed of “open trade and open borders.” This has earned her more support from corporate executives who hitherto would have thrown money at the  GOP candidate. Her cabinet appointments, while under scrutiny by party liberals, are going to reflect a very delicate balance between competing interests.