An open letter to President Obama

(Which, naturally, will be read by him personally...of course...)

Dear Mr. President,

After some days of speculation, the New York Times is reporting that you have settled on Governor Kathleen Sebelius of my home state of Kansas as your pick to replace Tom Daschle as your nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services. I'm a big fan of Governor Sebelius; she has proved, among other things, that you can take moral stands against issues like capital punishment and still cultivate widespread support, and so I absolutely love the idea of Governor Sebelius serving in such a high-profile federal office. Her eight years as insurance commissioner in addition to her six years as governor make her quite qualified for the post. I also think that in light of the PR screw-ups that were the Daschle, Gregg, Richardson, and (to a degree) Geithner nominations, you deserve to have a slam dunk nomination for HHS. But...I have to ask you to do something that I never thought I would ask when it came to promoting Governor Sebelius to the national scene...Please. Don't. Do. It.

I say that with this caveat--if Governor Sebelius has already privately assured you that she had and has no intentions of campaigning for the open Senate seat that Sen. Sam Brownback is vacating in 2010, then by all means, please please nominate her. Pretty please, with sugar/Splenda on top. She is term-limited and will be out of a job come January of 2011. But if there is any substantial chance that she would run, then I have to ask...why are you doing this to yourself?

Your political honeymoon may have been the shortest ever--as soon as the stimulus bill came up for a vote, Congressional Republicans saw the need to promptly and collectively give you the middle finger in spite of your attempts to be more bipartisan than your dim-witted predecessor. Even though you were able to sign the stimulus bill less than thirty days into your presidency, the GOP has demonstrated that nobody in its rank-and-file will give you no quarter, unless their last name happens to be Snowe or Collins.

So...if Governor Sebelius were willing to make a run for the open seat in Kansas, why would you appoint her to head HHS and thus deprive her of the chance of representing Kansas in the Senate and giving you another key ally in the Capitol? She stands an extremely good chance of winning--she was re-elected in 2006 in a 17-point landslide and consistently polls in the low-to-mid 60's in approval ratings. According to a preliminary poll taken earlier this month, she is polling ahead of Rep.'s Jerry Moran and Todd Tiahrt in a hypothetical Senate race by at least ten points each, and the Republican bench in Kansas offers no other candidates with the same level of name recognition as Rep.'s Moran and Tiahrt. In short, if Governor Sebelius were to decide that she wants Senator Brownback's seat, she has to be considered the prohibitive favorite so far. You would not only be gaining another reliably Democratic vote in the Senate, but you would be gaining one from one of the reddest states in the country.

And really, woe be it for a 23-year-old smartass in Berkeley to question your political acumen. I have never doubted that you know what you are doing. Yet, how Governor Sebelius would be a more powerful ally for you heading up HHS than as a crucial vote in the Senate is difficult to understand. And for whatever it is worth, I'm not the only one who thinks so.

But I have faith you, Mr. President. Keep inspiring us.

In solidarity,
Me