Cabinet Moves

Obama’s Basketball-Playing Education Secretary

Arne Duncan will round out president-elect’s squad.

News has leaked out about Obama’s choice for education secretary, and it’s…another basketball player! Arne Duncan, the CEO of Chicago’s public school system, is a 6-foot-5-inch Harvard grad who played professional ball in Australia. Aside from his success on the court, he’s “managed the political hat trick of winning praise from the education reform community, the unions, and is well-liked by parents, too,” The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder writes. Duncan is a fan of merit pay for teachers but has still won praise from the American Federation of Teachers, no small feat, and he’s won the blessing of outgoing Education Secretary Margaret Spellings.