Secretary of Agriculture: Tom Vilsack

The Iowa Governor campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination but dropped out when Obama entered the race. He then supported Hillary Clinton before finally endorsing Obama. The Nation has said that Obama's pick for "the most misunderstood position in the Cabinet", ­ which oversees urban nutrition programmes and some aspects of overseas aid as well as farming, is one of the most telling. Bush left the gigantic department with a lot of repair work to do, and "Obama could have done better, much better" than Vilsack and picked someone who represented real change. However, Jennifer Donahue writes on the Huffington Post: "Vilsack has integrity through and through. He is impeccable with his word, and is open about his thoughts."

FIRST POSTED JANUARY 6, 2009