The Malaysian Insider

WASHINGTON, Nov 20 - President-elect Barack Obama, moving to put together his new administration, named a former Senate majority leader to the Cabinet position of secretary of Health and Human Services. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was said to be weighing an offer to take over as the country’s top diplomat.

The Obama transition team also announced Wednesday that the incoming president had filled four key White House positions, including his pick of David Axelrod, chief campaign strategist, to serve as senior White House adviser.

Democratic officials, speaking anonymously because an announcement had not been made, said former Sen. Tom Daschle accepted Obama’s call to serve as health secretary. He was a close adviser to Obama throughout the Illinois senator’s White House campaign and recently wrote a book on his proposals to improve health care. He has been working with former Senate leaders on recommendations to improve the system.

Separately, Obama’s transition team announced that Daschle would oversee Obama’s health policy working group assigned to develop proposals and plans for action for the next administration.

The cabinet job Daschle was likely to fill normally is not high profile. But given Obama’s campaign pledge to fix the tattered US health care system, Daschle was likely to have a major role in shaping policy on the difficult and highly politicised issue.

Meanwhile, an official close to the selection process said Obama had “informally” offered the post of attorney general to Washington lawyer Eric Holder, who has accepted, pending completion of background checks.

Holder, 57, would be the first black person to serve as the country’s top legal official. The person spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday because no announcement has been made, though it could be made as soon as this week.

Hillary Clinton’s name has been raised as potential secretary of state after she and Obama met last week at his transition headquarters in Chicago. Associates of the former first lady and her husband said she was weighing whether to leave the Senate to run the American foreign policy apparatus, believing the post was hers if she wants it.

Obama transition officials say other candidates have been vetted for the job, but the New York senator — who was Obama’s fiercest rival for the Democratic nomination — has emerged as the leading contender and the vetting of former president Bill Clinton has been particularly intense.

The Hillary Clinton associates said she has been told that Obama wants her to be secretary of state, although accounts differ on how bluntly and directly Obama made the overture. They would speak only on grounds of anonymity because of the private nature of the negotiations.

Bill Clinton reportedly has agreed to help his wife’s vetting process for the US foreign minister position by releasing the names of several major donors to his charitable foundation. He also will submit future foundation activities and paid speeches to a strict ethics review, said Democrats knowledgeable about the discussions.

They also said that Clinton would step away from day-to-day responsibility for his foundation while his wife serves and would alert the State Department to his speaking schedule and any new sources of income.

The Democrats spoke only on grounds of anonymity because of the private nature of the Cabinet-selection process.

Bill Clinton briefly addressed questions about the vetting process in New York on Wednesday.

“I’ll do whatever they want,” the former president said at a ceremony renaming the Triborough Bridge for the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

Bill Clinton’s post-presidential ventures around the globe were heavily scrutinized this week during two days of intense negotiations in Washington between transition officials and a team of lawyers representing the former first couple.

Since Hillary Clinton emerged as a top contender for the State job, currently held by Condoleezza Rice, her husband’s international business deals and the fundraising he has done for his foundation and presidential library have come under careful review by Obama’s transition team.

A team of attorneys is representing the Clintons in negotiations with Obama officials. The talks have taken place this week at a law firm in Washington. Obama takes office on Jan 20.

Aides familiar with the negotiations said the vetting has gone smoothly and both Clintons had been fully cooperative with the process.

The former president has engaged in other deals that could complicate his wife’s work with foreign governments as secretary of state. Records show he raised money for his foundation from the Saudi royal family, Kuwait, Brunei and the Embassy of Qatar, and from a Chinese Internet company seeking information on Tibetan human rights activists.

Also Wednesday, Obama called UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and four foreign leaders to respond to their congratulatory calls after his election victory.

Obama’s transition office said the president-elect expressed his appreciation for their congratulations. In addition to Ban, Obama called Presidents Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, Umaru Yar’Adua of Nigeria, Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal and Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa. - AP