Kathleen Sebelius is expected to be heading HHS soon. The official announcement will come out Monday. For culture warriors the director of HHS is probably the most important cabinet choice. Fortunately the administration has chosen a leader with a proven record of transcending the culture wars by coming to pragmatic solutions to some of our hardest issues (mind you, she is a Democrat from the home of creation-based education – Kansas).

Here are a number of points that should encourage religious progressives –

1) Sebelius is opposed to the death penalty (not really an HHS topic, though it shows where she is coming from)

2) Sebelius, as a former insurance commissioner, blocked the monopolazation of Kansas health care providers, preventing the state from going down the path of a singular private health care provider. This was a huge issue in Kansas for years, and by sticking to her guns Sebelius was able to save thousands from a potential loss in coverage.

3) Sebelius is pro-life. She is against the criminalization of women or doctors. She supports measures to care-for and respect women going through these decisions. She has long said that there are ways, beyond the “pro-life”/”pro-choice” debates to address the issue on the ground level that makes a real difference in women’s lives. During her tenure as Gov., the best I can tell, abortions dropped 17% in Kansas. She did this through four main means:

• Expanding prenatal health care
• Providing financial incentives for adoptions
• Supporting pregnancy-support centers throughout the state
• Protecting health care coverage, as a priority, through budget shortfalls

As it seems that universal heath-care coverage is going to be a cornerstone of the Obama Agenda this year, Sebelius is going to have a large role to play. She has demonstrated the ability to win in one of the reddest of states by moralizing health care coverage, by seeking common ground over contentious debates, and by seeking pragmatic solutions to meet Kansas’ health care needs. As the administration seeks to garnish support for their health care plan, which a lot of people think will be an uphill battle, I think she is by far the best candidate for building the needed bi-partisan coalition. She has done it on the state level. Now, she will be tasked with doing it for all of us. Unquestionably, Sebelius is the right face for the administration’s health care plans.