In less than 24 hours, Mitt Romney will either be announced as the future 45th president of the United States, or Barack Obama will clutch his fist and make a toast to four more years.
With America on its toes as to who will end up winning, everyone seems to raise the same question: What will a Romney White House look like?
There have been many articles as to whether or not Romney will take his oath on the Book of Mormon, whether or not there’ll be alcohol served at the Inaugural Ball and whether or not Barack’s basketball court will stay.
That’s all fun and exciting, but let’s talk about predictions that may have a bigger effect on the country: the Romney Team.
I guess the first person I thought was a shoe-in for a cabinet seat was NJ Gov. Chris Christie … well not anymore, although I’d like to see him run for office, perhaps in 2016.
Now, former Utah governor Mike Leavitt is currently the front-runner for the shoe-in spot.
He has been in charge of Romney’s transition team in D.C. Leavitt’s unquestionable leadership and pristine reputation will probably earn him the spot of Chief of Staff.
With Hillary Clinton’s public announcement that she will likely not remain as Secretary of State if Obama wins, many pressures have been pushed onto Romney as for his possible selection. Robert Zoellick, former Deputy Secretary of State under GWB, former managing director of Goldman Sachs and president of the World Bank, fits the position perfectly. Although some may argue that he is perhaps too moderate for the job, I say Bob should go for it.
There’s also been a lot of chatter saying that current CIA director, David Petraeus is destined for Secretary of Defense….eh. Sure, Patraeus is a Republican on the record, but he was hired by Obama- I can’t see Romney and him getting along too well, so I’m going to take a safer pick- John Lehman. Lehman’s the former secretary of the Navy under Reagan and a leading figure at the Center for Security Policy, not to mention one of Romney’s key advisors on defense already.
Sure he may be called a “neoconservative’s neocon” by Fox (the highest honor), but I think Mitt may need some true right winged folks on his side.
Finally, a rather important decision: Secretary of Treasury. Dean of Columbia Business School and world-renowned economist, Glen Hubbard definitely has a chance at either securing the spot or as a conciliation prize, perhaps Fed. Reserve Chairman.
He’s really only got two things going against him: 1) some may be turned off considering his involvement in the George W. Bush administration, as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, or 2) his academic background may be too scholarly heavy and less business-experience- filled like the Romney Team may want to see.
In an effort to not take up this entire page, I’ll keep my other predictions short. Tim Pawlenty as Secretary of Education, Jack Gerard as Secretary of Energy, Harvard professor Greg Manikw will take over Bernanke’s spot, and if Christie’s out of the running for Attorney General- I give my vote to Bob McDonnell of Virginia.
I will have my fingers crossed tonight, although my intuition tells me it’s going to be neck and neck for the popular vote, with the V for Obama on the electoral side. It’s going to be an interesting 24 hours…
Brett Lichtenberg is a College freshman from Hewlett, N.Y.
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