Obama's Team of Rivals?



(image via time)

The Lincolnian vibe is prodigious in Senator Barack Obama. The Illinoian Senator has openly praised historian Doris Kearnes Goodwin's "Team of Rivals," which chronicled his previous Illinoian's divided administration operating in a time of great historical crisis.

As a Peacemaker, Obama is ideally suited tempermentally -- as opposed to "that divider" -- to bringing politically conflicted parties into confluence. In fact, Obama said as much to ABC News' Sunlen Miller in the late Spring in Florida. From ABC's Political Punch, which quoted Obama as saying, "That has to be the approach that one takes .. whether it's vice president or cabinet, whoever. And by the way that does not exclude Republicans either. You know my attitude is that whoever is the best person for the job is the person I want. ... You know, if I really thought that John McCain was the absolute best person for the Department of the Homeland Security, I would put him in there."

Many have dealt with the possibilities in an Obama "Team of Rivals," but this is the most interesting. From The New Republic's John B. Judis:

"In making cabinet choices, Obama has to realize that he faces some issues where he will need bipartisan support--not from every Republican, but at least the moderates and independents. These issues include the conduct of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (where the opposition will be ready to criticize him for abandoning Iraq, negotiating with terrorists, or not supporting our troops), as well as global warming and national health insurance (where powerful lobbies will attempt to divide the Democrats and mobilize the Republicans against his initiatives). He should choose his cabinet appointments accordingly.

"Obama's best choice in these cases might be Republicans who will be loyal to him--out of duty, if nothing else--but who also have clout on Capitol Hill. Getting Robert Gates to continue at the Pentagon is the obvious choice. Retiring senator Chuck Hagel has been mentioned for the post, but I don't know whether Hagel, who was not on the Armed Services Committee, can handle the Pentagon--or handle it right away; he might make a better choice for UN ambassador.

"In trying to secure support for a new global warming agreement, Obama will and should call on Al Gore. But he might also consider appointing a global warming czar or elevating the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to a Department of the Environment. He could try to recruit California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger or Maine senator Olympia Snowe--both whom are Republicans who have been active on the issue--to head up these efforts.

"In an ideal, non-partisan world, the perfect choice to lead his national health insurance agenda would be Mitt Romney. He is a technocrat and a politician, and knows the issue from his governorship of Massachusetts, where he enacted near-universal health care for the state. But Romney has lurched rightward and seems to be poised for a run in 2012, so he probably wouldn't do it.

Isn't it curious that in times of great crisis -- The Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Great Depression and the present financial crisis immediately come to mind -- America, a nation based on ideas (as opposed to, say, common blood), is unfailingly sober enough to summon the right leader for the times? Is this a function of our being a nation based on ideas (The Corsair perambulates wildly)?

Lincoln, in particular, was probably the only American politician of his age capable of coming up with such a necessary solution to the problem of the disintegration of the Union. It speaks well of America's Wisdom that the people -- although not a majority -- elected Abraham Lincoln, the right man for the position. And in piecing together his "Team of Rivals," the even-tempered Lincoln achieved the psychic majority necessary to move forward with the sanguinary but necessary American Civil War.