With Locke China-Bound, Some Advice For The White House On Replacing Him At Commerce

President Obama will reportedly name Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to be the new Ambassador to China, a fairly astute choice given that our top bond to China is economic at this point. With his new job though, his old one comes open- Commerce Secretary. This job is key within the economic team, and offers the administration a great opportunity, should they decide to take it.

The top problem many people have had over the first two years of the Obama White House is understanding exactly what his policies are, and what they do. When they know the realities of his choices, they have generally supported them. When they don't know what's happening, they listen to the lunatic statements of the right- that there are "death panels" in Health Care, that the deficit exploded under this President, that only their "cutting" of the budget can create jobs. On the economy, there has been a communications problem for this White House- and they can fix it now.

The President should pick a Commerce Secretary who is not just good on the policy issues- but is also good at the politics and communications that will be necessary to sell the policies of the administration to the public, and get the message through the noise. The problems they had will only be worse in a Presidential Election year where the other side has a primary process. Picking a spokesperson is as important as picking a policy wonk here. In fact, to help grow public confidence in the policies of the White House might be more important now.