Granholm looks for green energy job with Obama administration

After being mentioned for a dozen jobs when President Obama first took office, and twice making a relatively short list of possible candidates for the Supreme Court, Gov. Jennifer Granholm is now being mentioned by Politico as one to watch as a new face in the administration after her term as governor ends.

And she says she’d like to work on clean energy projects in some capacity:

Granholm’s résumé includes a Harvard law degree and stints as a state attorney general and a Detroit federal prosecutor. She hopes to find work near her current passion: creating clean energy jobs.

“I am very bullish on green,” she said.

An adviser on the economic transition team when Obama was president-elect, Granholm has worked tirelessly to transform Michigan’s old automotive manufacturing towns. She wooed a chairman of a solar panel company with Super Bowl tickets, traveled to Japan to lobby an auto-parts company to expand in Michigan and launched the job-retraining program for auto workers called “No Worker Left Behind.”

And like the president, she’s deployed an economic arsenal of tax credits and loans to ensure clean energy components are made in America. In fact, the two leaders’ energy policies frequently harmonize, especially as the administration pushes for electric-car manufacturing plants that Granholm wants to build in her state.

“Everything he says about clean energy are words that I could have said,” she said with a chuckle. “I shouldn’t say that. He’s says them so much more eloquently than I do.”

Van Jones was originally named as a special adviser to Obama on green manufacturing jobs. Perhaps Granholm could end up in that same position, or in the Department of Energy in some capacity. Either way, almost everyone expects her to take on some role within the administration after leaving office here in Michigan.