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By Jesus Mesa
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Amid criticism of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 's appointment by former President Donald Trump as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), a 2008 report has resurfaced, revealing that President-elect Barack Obama also considered him for a Cabinet position, drawing parallels to Kennedy's recent role.
According to an old report by Politico, after his election win over John McCain, Obama's team viewed Kennedy as a strong candidate for EPA Administrator, a Cabinet role vital to enforcing environmental laws. His appointment was seen as a move that would satisfy liberal factions of the Democratic Party.
"The selection of Kennedy would be a shrewd early move for the new presidential team. Obama advisers said the nomination would please both Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy," the report says.
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Reports from 2008 indicated that Obama ultimately believed his controversial statements and a past arrest for heroin possession in the 1980s made Senate confirmation highly improbable, as Senate Republicans were expected to block his nomination. This scenario, however, is unlikely to repeat itself today.
With much of the old GOP guard gone from Capitol Hill, Trump is likely to command unwavering loyalty from Republicans in Washington and he expects all of his picks to be confirmed by the Senate. This time, he's not taking chances, as he spent much of his first term feeling stung and betrayed by those he'd placed in power.
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Once a prominent figure in the Democratic Party, Kennedy's nomination was swiftly condemned by several of his former party members but celebrated by Republicans. After his fallout with the party of his ancestors, Kennedy gradually shifted to the right, ultimately endorsing Trump in August 2023—a defining moment in the campaign.
He and the president-elect have since become good friends. The two campaigned extensively together during the race's final stretch, with Trump making it clear he intended to appoint Kennedy to a major public health role.
"I'm going to let him go wild on health," Trump said at a rally last month.
This decision has raised concerns among public health officials, who have criticized the idea of placing someone they deem dangerous in charge of a massive agency overseeing drug and vaccine safety, food regulations, medical research, Medicare, and Medicaid.
"I think this is an extraordinarily bad choice," Dr. Ashish Jha, a former Biden administration COVID-19 coordinator and the dean of Brown University's School of Public Health, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday.
Jha also noted that past HHS secretaries from both Republican and Democratic administrations have typically allowed scientists in their agencies to make decisions based on evidence.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Republican, praised his nomination in an interview with Fox News, saying, "Trump has done well by selecting RFK Jr. because he's got the attention of the public. These issues are not new issues."
"I believe that the 86,000 workers at HHS...I believe most of them will welcome RFK because they are getting smothered under corporate capture," Oz said. "These agencies aren't actually free to do what they want to do frequently."
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During the campaign, Kennedy told NewsNation that Trump had asked him to "reorganize" agencies including the CDC, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration.
Kennedy has pushed against processed foods and the use of herbicides like Roundup weed killer. He has long criticized the large commercial farms and animal feeding operations that dominate the industry.
But he is perhaps best known for his criticism of childhood vaccines.
Again and again, Kennedy has made his opposition to vaccines clear. In July, he said in a podcast interview: "There's no vaccine that is safe and effective." He also told Fox News that he still believes in the long-ago debunked idea that vaccines can cause autism.
In a 2021 podcast he urged people to "resist" CDC guidelines that advise when kids should receive routine vaccinations.
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