Michael Pollan is a guest on NPR's Morning Edition today and will discuss his reaction to the choice of Tom Vilsack to head the USDA. A preview of the interview below the fold.
Also, reaction to Ray LaHood as Transportation Secretary. My first reaction - who the hell is Ray LaHood?
And, if you ever wanted to learn more about some Obama insiders like Robert Gibbs or Jon Favreau, this is your chance.
Michael Pollan will be on NPR's Morning Edition today, discussing his reaction to the choice of Tom Vilsack to head the USDA. Pollan argues that Obama will not be able to achieve his goals on energy independence or climate change or health care without addressing our agricultural and food systems:
"The food system is responsible for about a third of greenhouse gases," Pollan told NPR's Renee Montagne. "It is responsible for the catastrophic American diet that is leading 50 percent of us to suffer from chronic disease, and that drives up health care costs."
Pollan also wonders why the consumer was not mentioned at all during the press conference announcing the pick yesterday:
"I was very disappointed in that news conference," he said, "not to hear Vilsack use the word 'food' — or 'eaters.' And the interests of everybody except eaters was discussed: farmers, ranchers, people concerned about the land."
And so, he said, it's difficult not to see Vilsack's selection as "agribusiness as usual."
While Pollan obviously is not a fan of the choice, he points out a few bright spots in Vilsack's record, including his proposal to cap subsidies and his attempts to encourage local food production. I'll definitely be looking for the podcast of this interview when it comes out later this morning. I've read all of Pollan's books and definitely trust his judgement on this issue.
The audio of the interview is available at 9 a.m. EST. If you want to know more about Michael Pollan's thoughts on food and agriculture (if you haven't read In Defense of Food or any of his other books, definitely do!), you should check out OrangeClouds115 diary from a few days ago.
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Nicholas Kristof, in his op-ed this morning, calls Vilsack Obama's "weakest selection so far," as he discusses the health implications of subsidizing corn. He loves Paterson's proposed soda tax, though:
The soft-drink industry will throw enormous resources into defeating the proposed New York tax on sugary drinks. We should stand behind Governor Paterson’s bold gesture. He is blazing a path that other states should follow.
Losing weight is never easy, but one of the most effective diets would start with a soft drink tax.
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Lots of reaction to Vilsack this morning! The Des Moines Register reports that Vilsack had many high-profile friends to recommend his appointment, including Hillary Clinton:
Vilsack received Clinton's e-mail en route to the Drake Hotel in downtown Chicago where Obama is expected to appear with Vilsack at 10:45 a.m.
"We'll be working together after all," Clinton wrote, expressing that she had kept her "fingers crossed" and "pressed your case."
Michael Grunwald thinks the pick could have been a lot worse:
The Farm Bureau hailed his nomination, but it would have done institutional cartwheels if Obama had picked a toe-the-line "aggie" like House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Petersen or former ranking member Charlie Stenholm. Vilsack does have predictably close ties to traditional agriculture and agribusiness, and he did run the nation's leading corn and soybean state. But he's also been a supporter of farm conservation programs, clean water regulations, and a cap-and-trade scheme to prevent global warming.
Rolling Stone is also highlighting an interview they did with Vilsack during what they refer to as his "10 minute Presidential run."
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Who the hell is Ray LaHood? That was my first reaction and apparently I was not alone. And, by the way, many media outlets are reporting his first name as Roy, which only adds to the confusion. I went to his website and his name is definitely Ray, not Roy.
LaHood, first elected in 1994, has a reputation as a moderate and a sometime ally of public transit. At Progress Illinois, Adam Doster writes that LaHood has voted to increase funding for Amtrak and opposed privatizing rail lines, even if he hasn’t exactly been a leader on the issue. Though his district is one of the more rural in the state, covering much of the farmland of western and central Illinois, Amtrak does makes a stop in Springfield, which lies partly in the 18th.
On the other hand, LaHood is best known for helping to run the GOP’s impeachment effort against Bill Clinton in the House of Representatives. For the few who think of anything at all when they hear the name Ray LaHood, that’s probably the first thing to come to mind.
At least he has has broken with the GOP on some issues, like Amtrak. And this is the last Republican for the cabinet, right?
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Carlos Guerra, a columnist for the San Antonio Express, wishes Obama had chosen someone from a big city with mass-transit experience:
President-elect Barack Obama will reportedly name U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., as his secretary of transportation, which may disappoint some big-city dwellers. The speculation was that he would choose from former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, former head of the Federal Aviation Agency Jane Garvey, U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., and Steve Heminger, head of the San Francisco Bay Area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
Those four hail from large cities, each with mass-transit challenges, whereas LaHood, whose district includes Peoria, has a better record pushing ethanol production than tackling urban transit issues.
Once I figured out who LaHood is, I also found it strange that Obama would pick someone from a rural background for this position. It makes sense for Interior, but for Transportation?
Bloomberg News looks at the positives of this appointment and speculates that LaHood may be able to break the partisan gridlock on transportation issues because he has a "reputation for fairness."
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Here is my nomination for headline of the morning, courtesy of Amy Goodman: Workers laid off, executives paid off, Bernard Madoff
A number of foundations and nonprofits have been forced to close down because their money was managed by Madoff. The Fair Food Foundation is just one of those organizations. The foundation was launched in 2007 to promote urban agriculture in Detroit and San Francisco.
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Ok, so do I dare mention Rick Warren? I guess I must since it is all over the place this morning. Sarah Posner at The Nation thinks Democrats have "officially gone too far" and legitimized the religious right's influence on American politics:
Warren represents the absolute worst of the Democrats' religious outreach, a right-winger masquerading as a do-gooder anointed as the arbiter of what it means to be faithful. Obama's religious outreach was intended, supposedly, to make religious voters more comfortable with him and feel included in the Democratic Party. But that outreach now has come at the expense of other people's comfort and inclusion, at an event meant to mark a turning point away from divisive politics.
On the other hand, Damon Linker believes the choice is a shrewd political move:
But Obama's a politician, and the Warren pick is just the latest sign that he's an exceedingly shrewd one (as Andrew concedes). Warren is beloved by mainstream evangelicals, who have helped him to sell millions of books extolling a fairly anodyne form of American Protestantism. (Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell he is not.) It is in Obama's interest (and the Democrats') to peel as many moderate evangelicals away from the GOP as he can. Giving Warren such a prominent (but purely symbolic) place in the inauguration is a politically cost-free way of furthering this partisan agenda.
I would prefer they not have an invocation at all, but I know that won't happen. That said, I can completely understand why people would be pissed off about this.
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Finally, the New York Times Magazine (isn't it funny how it is published on Sunday and they post it online on Thursday?) has a pretty lengthy profile of Robert Gibbs, Obama's press secretary. It's a pretty interesting look, not only at Gibbs, but at the press shop during the campaign. The Washington Post also has piece on Jon Favreau, who will be the youngest chief speechwriter in White House history. Can you believe he's only 27? Sigh. Makes me feel very unaccomplished.
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So what's on your mind? Is everyone getting snow back in the States? I'm very jealous!