Secretary of Energy

Name: Steven Chu
Hometown: St. Louis, Missouri
Current City: Washington, D.C.
Job at time of Appointment: professor at the University of California, Berkeley and the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Age: 61

The Secretary of Energy position was one of the most anticipated choices of the Obama Cabinet. In recent years, the boundaries of the job description have slowly blended with other cabinet positions. With the success of the Green Jobs movement, the Energy Secretary will have to focus more on jobs and labor. Our relationships with oil producing countries overseas have given the position an international flavor, and in the coming years the Secretary of Energy will have to focus much more on National Security and foreign relations. As America becomes a greener country, the Secretary of Energy will become an important voice within the Cabinet.

Steven Chu attended Berkeley and later became a professor of physics at Stanford University in 1987. Chu comes from a family of scholars; his father earned an advanced chemical engineering degree at MIT while his maternal grandfather earned advanced civil engineering degrees at Cornell University.As a scientist, Chu is known for his research in cooling and trapping of atoms with laser light, which won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997. He is a vocal advocate for more research into alternative energy and nuclear power, arguing that a shift away from fossil fuels is essential to combat global warming.

John McCain Agrees to a "Twitterview"

During the 2008 campaign, the media often gave John McCain a hard time for not knowing how to check his email and many critics felt he was out of touch with the internet generation. At one point, McCain even admitted: 

“I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon... I don’t expect to be a great communicator, I don’t expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need.” 

Now, John McCain is taking strides to combat his old image... and where better to start than Twitter?

On Tuesday March 17, at 12PM, George Stephanopolous will conduct a fifteen minute "twitterview" with John McCain! The fun part: since the interview will be conducted entirely through Twitter's microblogging platform, they’ll have to limit their questions and answers to 140 characters each.

Got a question you want to ask @JohnMcCain? Tweet your proposed question to @GStephanopolous right now! Then tune in to Twitter on Tuesday to see if your question makes the cut!

Secretary of the Treasury

Name: Timothy F. Geithner
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
Current City: Washington D.C.
Job at time of appointment: President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Age: 47

Before his nomination to the Treasury, Secretary Geithner served as the ninth president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he began on November 17, 2003. He served as the vice chairman and a permanent member of the Federal Open Market Committee, the group responsible for preparing the nation's fiscal policy. Geithner's nomination came under scrutiny due to his failure to pay more than $30,000 in overdue taxes.

Geithner ultimately received Senate confirmation, but he was condemned for not following the rules of the Internal Revenue Service, which is a child agency of the Treasury Department he now oversees.

Not Good Enough!

24 million young people voted in the 2008 Presidential Election, but registration problems stopped millions more before they could get into the voting booth. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) began hearings March 11th on how to fix problems that hit 18-29 year olds especially hard. 

Calling voter registration "the life blood of our republic," Schumer opened arguments with an impassioned plea to address the voter registration problems that our last election made plain:

"In the 21st century people shouldn't be denied their constitutional right to vote because of problems caused by an antiquated voter registration system that was set up in the 19th century by the Whig Party."

The time has come to modernize our voter registration system.

Use our Gov It widget to tell Schumer and your congressman that we need new laws to protect our fundamental right to vote. Next year’s critical Congressional election will be here before we know it!

Extra! Extra! Check Out the Latest Headlines at the Newseum!

Last year, I helped my grandma move. Going through her garage, I happened upon a stack of old newspapers she’d kept in honor of important dates in history: the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the first moon landing, the election of Ronald Reagan.

Since 2003, The Newseum in Washington has been doing the same thing – only on a broader scale. Every day, the Newseum features hundreds of front pages from newspapers around the world. Today, for example, they feature 748 newspapers’ front pages from 69 countries! Check out their amazing tool that maps daily newspaper front pages by city and state:

Visit the NEWSEUM site to play around with this great tool.

Also, if you’ve got a nostalgic streak, you can peruse their Archives section which features important headlines dating back to 2003 (when they first started building this archive). In an age of globalization, where news travels quickly, it’s refreshing to see that newspapers can still thrive on a local level.

Personally, as a member of the Millennial generation, I must confess that I do read most of my news online. But on occasion, I still find myself drawn to the newsstand, laying down my fifty cents for a published, printed record of the life-changing events that define my era.

Attorney General

Name: Eric Holder

Hometown: Bronx, New York

Current City: Washington, D.C.

Job at time of Appointment: Senior Legal Advisor to Barack Obama during his presidential campaign

Age: 58

In 1988, Eric Holder was appointed judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia by President Ronald Reagan. In 1993 he stepped down and accepted an appointment by Bill Clinton to be U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Holder remained there until his promotion to Deputy Attorney General in 1997. In late 2007, Holder joined Barack Obama's Presidential Campaign as a senior legal advisor and also served on Obama's Vice Presidential Committee.

Holder recently came under fire for his remarks to the Department of Justice on race in America. As the first African-American to hold the position of attorney general, Holder is in an unique position to speak to this issue. Check out this video of his remarks:

What do you think?

Pappas v. Faar: The Case for Automatic Voter Registration

It's been exactly four months since Election Day and some counties are still dealing with the aftermath of recounts, registration issues, and challenged ballots!

In the Santa Barbara County Supervisor race, a trial has been raging between the incumbent, Steve Pappas, and his challenger, Doreen Farr. In November, Farr won the election by 806 votes. After a recount, ordered by Pappas in December, one vote was switched to Pappas’ favor. Pappas contested the outcome, citing forgery and illegal registrations – most of which, he contends, occurred in the UC Santa Barbara and Isla Vista areas.

9,000 votes specifically from the UC Santa Barbara campus have been challenged. Due to exponential growth of voter registration efforts on the UCSB college campus, Pappas believes that registration fraud – and ultimately, voter fraud, has occurred. Pappas’ attorneys claim that (allegedly) incomplete and late voter registration forms should not be processed, and correspondingly, those votes should not be counted.

The voter fraud trial between Pappas and Faar is currently on hold, but when proceedings resume on March 11th, Pappas’ attorney is expected to call witnesses who participated in voter registration drives on the UCSB campus. With the echoes of these registration issues still reverberating throughout the local and national news, Americans must look for a way to modernize the system. The time has come for Automatic Voter Registration!

America relies on one of the most outdated systems of voter registration in the world. Wouldn’t life be easier if every American were automatically registered at the age of eighteen? This way, organizations like Declare Yourself could focus less on registering and more on getting out the vote! Also, elected officials like Pappas and Farr could spend less time tied up in court and more time legislating on issues that matter most to Americans!

Visit the Declare Yourself website to talk back to your officials and write a letter to your Secretary of State. Ensure the validity of your vote – and the votes of Americans across the country – by demanding Automatic Voter Registration!

Give Back: What Will YOU Do?

Students across America have rallied around President Obama's call to service. More and more young people are devoting their time to public service and volunteer opportunities in their communities.

Launched in 2006, the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll seeks to award colleges and universities for their commitment to community service through innovative and effective techniques. This year’s honorees were presented during the American Council on Education Annual Conference in Washington D.C.

The top six colleges (out of a total of 635!) were honored with the “Presidential Award”. Congratulations to:

• Emory University
• Michigan State
• California State University, Fresno
• Brookhaven College
• Duke University
• University of Missouri – Kansas City

Criteria are based on factors such as percentage of students engaged in at least 20 hours of service per semester, whether academic service-learning is a part of the core curriculum, and ratio of alumni who are current AmeriCorps and Peace Corps members.

The awarding is the highest federal recognition a college can receive for this type of commitment. It’s pretty cool seeing how many schools made the honor roll this year, which shows how many students and institutions are dedicated to being a part of their community and putting others before themselves.

Whether you’re in school or not, take some time out of your week to feed the homeless, clean a beach, rebuild the Gulf Coast. The possibilities are endless, but it begins with YOU.

Find out about opportunities in your neighborhood at DeclareYourself.com

Secretary of Defense

Name: Robert Gates

Hometown: Wichita, Kansas

Current City: Washington DC

Job at time of Appointment: Secretary of Defense (for George W. Bush)

Age: 65

Despite a flurry of dissent in the Democratic party, Barack Obama chose the incumbent Secretary of Defense (appointed by George W. Bush) to fill the current cabinet post. Gates joined the CIA in 1966 and spent nearly twenty seven years as an intelligence professional, serving six presidents. In 2006, Gates stepped in as Secretary of Defense after Donald Rumsfeld's resignation. He has also published two books: "Iran: Time for a New Approach," and "From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insiders Story of Five Presidents and How they Won the Cold War."

Communications Team

Press Secretary

Name: Robert Gibbs
Hometown: Auburn, AL
Current City: Washington D.C.
Job at time of appointment: Communications Director for Barack Obama's Campaign

Age: 37

Initially, some in the DNC regarded Robert Gibbs as a controversial choice for Press Secretary due to his campaign against the nomination of Howard Dean in 2004. 

However, Gibbs' skill in deflecting criticism from the Obama campaign quickly earned him the nickname "the enforcer" among Obama staffers. Plus, as a Southerner, his valuable insights earned him respect among the other advisers, and President Obama eventually started calling Gibbs his "one-person Southern focus group" (and judging by Obama's performance in Southern states such as Georgia and North Carolina, you can bet Gibbs earned this title!)

Gibbs held his first official press briefing on January 22, 2009. Check it out:

Photo from javno Video from AP


Communications Director

Name: Ellen Moran
Hometown: Amherst, Massachusetts
Current City: Washington D.C.
Job at time of appointment: Executive Director of Emily's List
Age: 42

Moran came as a surprising choice to many supporters due to the fact that she strongly supported Hillary Clinton through the Primary season. 

Though Moran didn't work on the Obama campaign, she has close ties to David Plouffe and David Axelrod.

Before being picked as Communications Director, Moran ran the organization Emily's List, which backs female candidates who support abortion rights. She has also worked for the A.F.L - C.I.O, coordinating their "corporate accountability campaign" against giants like WalMart; and the Democratic National Committee, doing advertising and coordinating campaign activities.

Photo from The Washington Post


Deputy Communications Director

Name: Daniel H. Pfeiffer
Hometown: Wilmington, Delaware
Current City: Washington D.C.
Job at time of appointment: Communications Director for the Obama Campaign
Age: 33

Pfeiffer is probably the most tech-savvy person on the White House staff. At 33, Pfeiffer doesn't quite qualify as a Millennial but he sure knows how to navigate the social networking world! He has an intimate understanding of technologies like MySpace, Twitter and Facebook - all of which played a big role in Obama's success.

Prior to his appointment, Pfeiffer had worked on numerous Senate campaigns, including Tim Johnson, Tom Daschle, and Evan Bayh. Back in 2000, Pfeiffer served as a spokesperson for Al Gore. His wife is a longtime aid to Rham Emanuel.

Photo from The New York Times