Schwarzenegger, Obama, and Energy-related position at the White House

July 13, 2008, 7:31 pm

Schwarzenegger Says He Would Accept Obama Appointment

Melanie Trottman reports on the presidential race.

Guests on the Sunday newsmaker shows, including California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and John McCain adviser Carly Fiorina, spotlighted energy and the economy and paid tribute to former White House press secretary Tony Snow.

On ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos,
Schwarzenegger wasn’t shy in his response to a question of whether he’d
consider an energy-related cabinet position in a Barack Obama
administration.

“I’d take his call now, and I’d take his call when he’s president,
anytime,” he said, stopping short of criticizing Sen. Obama and
praising McCain for not overpromising on how quickly troops could be
withdrawn from Iraq. A word of advice to McCain from Schwarzenegger:
Campaign in California because the state has more than 20% of the swing
voters and independents in the country.

On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” top McCain adviser Carly Fiorina, the former head of Hewlett-Packard, talked about controversial comments made during the week by McCain economic adviser Phil Gramm.
Gramm, a former Republican senator from Texas, said the U.S. is in a
“mental recession” and chided Americans for becoming “a nation of
whiners.” Obama fired back saying the economic downturn is not in
Americans’ heads, and McCain openly disagreed with the comments.

Fiorina said, “I don’t think Sen. Gramm will any longer be speaking
for John McCain, and I think John McCain was crystal clear about that
this week.” She added that she thinks McCain has “been very clear” that
the economy is struggling and has a plan to get it growing again.
Sen. McCain was on the road during the week touting his energy plan as
part of an agenda to rejuvenate the nation’s slowing economy, visiting
states from Colorado to Pennsylvania where he held town hall meetings
to address worry about job security and food and gas prices.
The shows also paid tribute to Tony Snow, the former White House Secretary who died Saturday at age 53 of colon cancer.

On Meet the Press, Brokaw called Snow an “elegant man” and “graceful spokesman” who was “loved and respected.”

On Fox News Sunday, Vice President Dick Cheney praised Snow while
acknowledging he was a critic of the Bush Administration. Snow was “a
major player in the conservative movement,” Cheney said, and also “a
guy who understood very well the purposes of government, and that they
were limited, and that there were some things government shouldn’t do
that we are best able to do for ourselves.”

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