Unmentioning Harman: Rep.'s chances wane for Obama job

A couple weeks ago, the Beltway mentioners were bullish on South Bay Rep. Jane Harman. Her name was floated for several positions, including Director of National Intelligence, CIA Director, and Secretary of Homeland Security.

But now the chatter has died down, and others appear to have the inside track for those jobs. Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano appears to have the Homeland Security position nailed down. John Brennan, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, seems to be the top candidate for the CIA job. And now comes word from ABC News that Obama has a top choice for DNI as well:

Admiral Dennis C. Blair (Ret.), former Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Pacific Command and a 6th-generation naval officer, has emerged as the top candidate to be President-elect Obama's Director of National Intelligence. He recently met in Chicago with the president-elect.

Of course, none of these things is a done deal. Huffington Post has a round-up of liberal concerns about Brennan, who served under CIA Director George Tenet during the early years of the Bush administration, and as such must have been at least somewhat involved with some of the more controversial policies of that period.

Of course, Harman was involved as well, inasmuch as she was briefed on waterboarding and wiretapping long before the rest of us knew anything about it.