Picking Barack Obama's cabinet has become the latest punditry parlor game, and Jeff Bingaman's name has floated to the top of the Energy Secretary lists. (See Politico and Monahan and I confess I've played the game too.)

Bingaman's a logical choice.

Energy is a strange agency. Its name says one thing, but it's really an amalgam of energy work, nuclear weapons work and basic science. Bingaman has solid experience in all three. He's served on the Armed Services Committee, currently chairs the Energy Committee, has represented nuclear weapons research centers. That's a rare combination of expertise in Washington. His views on energy are also close to Obama's. And Bingaman is passionate about trying to craft solutions to the nation's energy problems. Wouldn't the conventional wisdom then make Bingaman an ideal choice to head Energy? And so it has.

But there is a story I've heard told enough times that, if it's not true, it ought to be. When Bill Richardson was being considered for the position of Energy Secretary in 1998, he asked Bingaman what he thought. Bingaman's response (perhaps apocryphal, but resonant enough to be repeated frequently):

"I think it's the worst job in Washington."

The Energy Secretary is a cat herder, administering an unruly department of independent and often disconnected labs and sub-agencies that have little in common. More importantly, the Energy Secretary has traditionally not been a maker of energy policy. That comes from the White House and, to an even greater degree, Congress.

So if Jeff Bingaman really wants to help shape our nation's energy future, his current position as chairman of the Senate Energy committee is where the action is. Becoming Energy Secretary would be about the worst job in Washington for him.