Obama Cabinet Nominees Rolled Out; Obama Administration, NRA Set to Face Off
SAVIDGE: One of President Obama's biggest early challenges in his second term is really turning out to be something rather surprising. That's the reshaping of his cabinet. He has several posts to fill. The big three nominees so far, they are John Kerry as the new secretary of state, current White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew who has the nod for Treasury Secretary, and then there's Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense, which could be the president's biggest battle. So I'm going to bring in now Jason Johnson to talk about this. He is a professor of political science at Hiram College and he is also the chief political correspondent at Politic365. I wanted to make sure I said that right. So let's start off with Chuck Hagel because he's a Republican, bipartisanship we thought about here, kumbaya moment. It is not working out so well.</s>JASON JOHNSON, PROFESSOR, HIRAM COLLEGE: Yes, there's no kumbaya moments in Washington, D.C. Republicans are still very bitter. A lot of them don't like that Chuck Hagel has been so close to Barack Obama for a long time. But I think this is a bunch of sort of chest beating right now. I think Hagel will get through. Obama might have to fight for it, but I think he is going to get through.</s>SAVIDGE: You don't think it will be a squeaker. Some even suggest there is the potential he may not get the nod.</s>JOHNSON: The things is I think there are a lot of Republicans who will come out right now and say we have a problem with him. We have to really vet him, but many believe in sort of the constitutionality of the president being able to select the cabinet. There is a lot of Republicans who still feel, look, in the end we're going to let him through. The president should be able to have his cabinet. We'll argue with him about policy later.</s>SAVIDGE: The problems that Republicans especially seem to have are, of course, comments that he has made in reference to the Israeli lobby on Capitol Hill. He's also talked about trimming the budget with the defense budget. So, I mean, are these real nonstarters here or is this just the Republicans wanting to come up with a way to complain?</s>JOHNSON: I think when you're the out party you have to complain. Democrats did the same thing with George Bush. You know, Chuck Hagel, when he was a Republican, these comments were fine. Now that he's somebody that Barack Obama likes there's going to be a bit of an issue. Anytime you make criticism of Israel and the United States there is going to be some problems. Anytime you talk about cutting military spending there is going to be some problems. But ultimately is that enough? You really want to cause this kind of fight with the president? Not right now, not with the debt ceiling and not with bigger issues looming.</s>SAVIDGE: All right, I want to move on to some of the others. What do you think of Jack Lew? Of course, he's out there to replace Tim Geithner. It seems that we're on the verge of a different kind of philosophy now.</s>JOHNSON: Yes. You know, I think what's interesting is Barack Obama is getting to people who are closer to him. You know, Jack Lew used to be chief of staff. Obama's like, look, my first term I was getting all the people to make America happy. Now I'm getting people to do what I want them to do. I mean, there are a lot of people didn't like how Geithner did the job in general so I think Obama is really putting his own thumb on this one.</s>SAVIDGE: I thought it was interesting that one of the criticisms I heard was that people said he's too much like the president or backing his policies. I thought isn't that why you pick people for your cabinet?</s>JOHNSON: Exactly. Exactly and that's what Barack Obama wants to do. I mean, look, he is now safe. He doesn't have to worry about running ever again. So he's like, look, I'm going to put my stamp on America whether you like it or not.</s>SAVIDGE: Let's talk about though the makeup and a lot has been said about this, that in many ways the new cabinet, the high posts are older white men, not reflective of American society. There have been a number of women that have clearly --</s>JOHNSON: The secretary of state, yes.</s>SAVIDGE: Chief among them. What's going on here and how significant is this?</s>JOHNSON: Let's be really honest about America and Washington. The Republicans want to say most of the America is still run by old white guys. That's the truth. So it's not surprising that Barack Obama is going to pick a lot of them for these positions. But if you look at the totality of who he's selected, it's not that much of a problem. You have Elena Kagan and Sotomayor on the Supreme Court. I mean, he still has a lot of opportunity here to make his cabinet look more like America. So I think this is much ado about nothing at least right now.</s>SAVIDGE: But that said, you know, there was one criticism I read, a commentary, saying somebody ought to present the president with binders of women. You know, of course, the criticism that had been placed against Mitt Romney. It has people wondering. You can say, yes, but are these the only qualified candidates?</s>JOHNSON: NO, of course not. Of course not and that's why the Congressional Black Caucus has stepped forward and said, look, you should take Barbara Lee. You should take Mel Watt. That's why there are a lot of people right now saying, look, with Hilda Solis stepping down as labor secretary. And if you want to talk about immigration and you want to talk about commerce, you know, you need to put another woman in there, probably a woman of color. So I think Obama has some time. The question will be how aggressive is he going to be in selecting these positions. I think that's more important. We have to see.</s>SAVIDGE: All right, Jason Johnson, thanks very much for coming in and talking politics with us.</s>JOHNSON: Thank you.</s>SAVIDGE: Always appreciated. Well, next on the NEWSROOM, did you ever want to flip off a police officer? Well, if so, you better think twice because it could land you in jail. It did for this guy. Find out why when our legal guys join us. And then waiting for a bus can be stressful, but this brawl takes it to a whole new level. The details ahead as the CNN NEWSROOM continue.