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Bush set to pick new team
05/11/2004 20:36 - (SA)
Washington - President George W Bush completed his re-election triumph on Friday by winning the final undeclared state and starting the job of choosing key members of his new administration.
"I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it," Bush said on Thursday before withdrawing to the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland where he is to start choosing members of his new cabinet.
Bush is expected to maintain the style of his first cabinet.
"It's inevitable there will be changes. It happens in every administration," he told a press conference on Thursday.
Most attention has been focused on the future of secretary of state Colin Powell. The 67-year-old ex-general was presented as a figure of stability in the first administration that took office in January 2001.
But Powell has become marginalised. Powell's advice of prudence before the March 2003 invasion of Iraq was ignored. Bush appears to listen more to his Hawks - defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and vice-president Dick Cheney.
The most spoken about successor is John Darnforth, the 68-year-old US ambassador to the United Nations and a former special envoy on Sudan. Darnforth is an ordained pastor, which would be to the liking of the devout Methodist president.
Rice to follow up Rumsfeld
Rumsfeld, 72, is expected to stay on as defence secretary, at least for the early months. Elections are to be held in Iraq in January and the United States wants to start reducing its troop presence in the troubled country as soon as possible.
He could eventually be replaced by national security advisor, Condoleezza Rice. Despite her academic background, Rice, 49, reportedly wants to run the Pentagon where she would be the first black and the first woman defence secretary.
But there are political considerations in the appointments.
"Remember, appointments are not always given to the most competent and most loyal. They are often given to people to satisfy an interest group, pay off a political debt or another reason," highlighted David Lewis, a scholar on presidential history at Princeton University.
The nomination of John Ashcroft as attorney general in 2001 was a gesture to the right wing of the Republican party, which has again played a key role in Bush's election win.
Giuliani might replace Ashcroft
Ashcroft, 67, underwent surgery earlier this year and has made it known he could stand down even before the new administration is sworn-in in January.
He could be replaced by Rudolph Giuliani, the 60-year-old former mayor of New York during the September 11, 2001 attacks on the city.
Giuliani's iron fist attitude to crime and determination to fight terrorism could outweigh his links to moderate Republicans when it comes to social issues such as abortion and gay marriage.
Treasury Secretary John Snow is also expected to stay in his job to put in place tax reforms that Bush has said will be a key task of the new government.
- AFP
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