Speculation continues concerning Obama appointments and possible Bush administration policy reversals

With little new information to go on in the post-election lull, the media has continued to circulate and recirculate speculation concerning President-elect Barack Obama’s incoming agenda and possible picks for senior-level appointments. By the end of the week, however, Obama had announced only a handful of appointments, none of which were permanent positions or will require Senate confirmation. In addition to Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) as his chief of staff, the incoming chief executive named three individuals to co-chair his transition team: Valerie Jarrett, CEO of Chicago-based developer Habitat Co; John Podesta, former chief of staff to President Clinton and head of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress (CAP); and Peter Rouse, who was Obama’s chief of staff in the Senate.

The framework of Obama’s transition process began to emerge with the naming of 14 members of an “agency review working group ,” which will oversee and coordinate the work of the review teams that are fanning out to individual federal agencies.

Venture capital executive Tom Wheeler was named as the working group member with responsibility for agencies that have missions in science, technology, space, and arts. Wheeler is on leave of absence from Core Capital Partners, which invests in early-stage technology companies. David Hayes, an environmental lawyer affiliated with the World Wildlife Fund and the Progressive Policy Institute, was designated as the working group member for the energy and natural resources agencies. Sarah Sewall, on part-time leave from Harvard’s Kennedy School, was named the group’s member for the national security agencies. It wasn’t immediately clear how the transition team might slice up agencies such as the US Department of Energy, whose missions include defense, energy, science, and the environment. Tom Perez, currently secretary of Maryland’s Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation, will oversee the Health and Human Services Department, parent agency of the National Institutes of Health.

Obama has promised to create a new position of chief technology officer to coordinate information technology policy throughout the federal government. The president-elect signaled that he will focus initially on populating the agencies that have traditionally been considered the most critical: the State, Defense, and Treasury departments. He also reiterated his intent to adopt tough new ethics rules to bar the revolving door through which so many presidential appointees have turned lobbyists.

The Washington Post reported that advisers to Obama had identified around 200 executive orders and actions taken by the Bush administration that the incoming president intends to quickly reverse. Those include the severe restrictions on the use of human embryonic stem cells Bush ordered in 2001.

Former Clinton science adviser Neal Lane, in an article he co-wrote on a CAP blog, urged the new administration to establish a commission to chart a new course for NASA . Items to be revisited should include the decision to retire the space shuttles by 2010, the timeline envisioned in Bush’s plan for returning astronauts to the Moon by 2020, and the aeronautics research program, whose budget declined by nearly one-third from fiscal year 2004 to FY 2007.

Meanwhile, at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, infighting broke out among House Democrats even as they consolidated their gains from the election. A challenge for the chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee , held by 82-year-old John Dingell of Michigan, was issued by Rep. Henry Waxman, who is currently chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Dingell is the longest-serving member of the House and has long resisted moves to impose tougher mileage standards on US automakers. His committee also has lead jurisdiction for legislation dealing with climate change.

The chairmanships of some other key House and Senate committees will change . Most notably, West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd will turn over the gavel of the Appropriations Committee to Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, who will be vacating his chairmanship of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia is next in seniority to head Commerce.

David Kramer