A number of people have asked me in the past few weeks whether I thought Sarah Palin resigned her post as the Governor of Alaska to seek appointment as the new Federal E-Commerce Czar. It is an interesting idea to be sure. However, it is one that is unlikely to come to fruition. Beyond the obvious issue of Palin taking a role in a Democratic administration, her background is not a strong match for the role. Palin’s strong background with energy and the environment would be an asset in the position. However, she does not boast strengths in health care, homeland security or manufacturing operations. Furthermore, her technology experience is relatively weak compared to other potential candidates for the post.
Palin as a Candidate for EDI Czar
Earlier this month Palin announced that she would not seek re-election for the Alaskan gubernatorial role in 2010. Furthermore Palin stated that she would resign her current term early effective July 26th, 2009. Palin cited the ridiculous amount of time and money that the State of Alaska was investing to explore potential ethics violations as the reason for her resignation. However, there has been widespread speculation about whether Palin’s true motivation lies in her desire to run for the Republic Presidential Nomination in 2012, an ambition that she has publicly downplayed.
So why would a potential presidential nominee seek a lower level cabinet position such as the E-Commerce Secretary? I suspect the reason would be, because of the impacts that she could make as the EDI czar. Consider the benefits that could be achieved to the health care system, homeland security, manufacturing competitiveness and environmental policy with further adoption of B2B e-commerce technologies throughout the US economy. Benefits from enhanced interoperability amongst health care providers could yield up to $75B in benefits alone. The e-commerce role could be a smart intermediate step prior to a 2016 presidential campaign. However, as I mentioned above such an action is unlikely to occur. This, of course, begs the question of who would be a better candidate for the e-commerce role.
If not Palin then Who?
There are a number of strong potential candidates who lead B2B technology vendors and industry standards organizations, which could be considered. Certainly the industry standards leaders are no strangers to politics! Additionally, both federal and state level governments make extensive use of e-commerce technologies today. Obama could appoint an individual from one of the various state-level technology posts as he did with the Federal CIO and CTO roles. The choice of candidate will likely be influenced by the reporting relationship and governance authority attributed to the role. If the post is not an actual cabinet level position, but instead more of an advisory type of role, then a less senior candidate will be appropriate.
With both GM and Chrysler out of bankruptcy and the stress tests of the major financial institutions complete, the Obama administration is now finally getting some bandwidth to address some of the longer-term priorities for the US economy. Both a Federal CIO and CTO were appointed earlier this year. Will an E-Commerce Czar be next?
