In announcing now half of his cabinet, it is almost becoming cliche,' (And free publicity for historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's book), like Lincoln, Obama is assembling a "Team of Rivals."
Goodwin profiles five of the key players in her book, four of whom contended for the 1860 Republican presidential nomination and all of whom later worked together in Lincoln's cabinet.
www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=981406n
With the Gates and Jones -- and advisor to John McCain -- and then primary rival Clinton, who made the infamous "3 Am Ad" Obama may not only be following Lincoln's lead, but a Chris Mathews Harball strategem -- "Keep your friends close, your rivals closer."
Obama himself, says he wants a healthy, vigorous debate among his advisors. In announcing his new team, the President-elect quoted another Commander-in-Chief making it clear who will be in charge.
“the buck will stop with me” when he dismissed doubts over how a heavy-weight “team of rivals” that includes Clinton and a Republican Defense Secretary can work in harmony.
Presenting half a dozen nominees for senior national security posts, the President-elect said that the “strong personalities and strong opinions” that he had brought together would ensure vigorous debate, even disagreement, in the White House.
“But understand – I will be setting policy as President,” he added. “I will be responsible for the vision that this team carries out, and I expect them to implement that vision once decisions are made.”
So will a "Team of Rivals" work? Like 1860, 2008 brings another thin man from Illinois, relatively new to Washington but wise to the world challenged to bring the nation together to face a crisis.
Still, honest Abe didn't have a 24-7 newscycle with "gotcha" potential among the Team of Rivals. Doris Kearns Goodwin is one thing, Fox News quite another.
Also does the exerienced Team of Rivals jive with Obama's campaign Change message? There will be change in bringing debate to the cabinet. President "W' Bush surrounded himself with loyalists the first, second and in some cases third (Attorney General) time around.
Remember that these nomination do have to go through Senate approval. And how's this for a rumor, Bill Clinton nominated by New York Governor David Patrick to take Hillary's Senate seat?
Bonus for anyone who can name the two former presidents to go on and serve in the Senate.
6 comments:
quincy adams, andrew johnson
I think this is a pretty interesting move on Obama's part that not many recent Presidents have had the will, or the desire, to make. Obama seems to be drawing a lot of his ideas from precedents set by past revolutionary Presidents; this will definitely make him a defining figure in history, but at this point none of his actions have been allowed to prove their practical worth. Personally I think that having a group of powerful and possibly opposing minds fighting it out in debate will allow all the best ideas to make their cases and be a really effective way to build a cabinet. Before Obama's even stepped into the Presidency, though, there's always the possibility that this card castle of new, daring ideas he's assembling his administration with will either work, or it won't.
"Understand where the vision for change comes from, first and foremost," he told reporters at his third press conference in as many days. "It comes from me. That's my job, is to provide a vision in terms of where we are going, and to make sure, then, that my team is implementing." - CNN reporting on Barack Obama.
Hooray for another minimum four years of a decider! Having the smartest people in the cabinet is a great way to build a cabinet. But I'll make a sports analogy.
One of the most dominant basketball teams- I use basketball because we're talking about Barack and thats the thing he has the most experience in- in recent years was the Lakers. But their team had just two big egos (Kobe and Shaq), and that caused so much drama that eventually their team went to h-e-double hockey sticks. Now the Spurs, that was also a great team, but no one was a huge ego, great players, less drama.
So if life is like sports, which it is, we look and see that having the best people working together will get the job done for a while, but will eventually explode in the faces. But we're not just talking about basketball, we're talking about my country. Therefore, I think that a team of rivals will cause more problems that it will solve. There has to be a balancing act if he truly wants to put rivals in his cabinet. I do worry that a clinton in the cabinet will cause too much drama, i don't think it will, but i worry what will happen if it does. The real question is not what the individual members of the cabinet will do, it is: "if the egos in the cabinets start to fight, will Mr. Obama be able to control them?"
Andrew Johnson went to the Senate, and John Quincy Adams went the House after their presidencies.
I think Obama is being extremley brave in choosing a "team of rivals" for his cabinet, as he is doing something many people did not expect. I think this is the first of many things Obama will do that will be different than more "traditional" if you will, presidents before him. Personally, I think it is the most logical to have an array of different types of people in the cabinet, because you need many perspectives to be considered on all issues. Considering Obama's lack of experience as well, giving him many opinionated Washington veterans to work with will allow him to learn much more faster. This completely corresponds with his campaign promise of change, as he is trying to make this as different as he can from the Bush administration. I also agree with Piali on what she said...and loved the card castle metaphor. :)
P.S. Bill clinton on senate?! oh you got to love American family politics.
Quincy Adams elected to the House in 1830 and Andrew Johnson elected to the Senate in 1874.
I think that having a team of rivals presents both advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are healthy debate among the cabinet and the slowing down of legislation so that nothing to rash will happen. This goes back to the cup and saucer metaphor of the house and senate and the article we read. Congress is meant to move slowly to have a full debate on an issue before deciding if it is right for the country. This should happen in the executive branch of government as well in order to ensure that the American people receive the best thought out plan. The disadvantage is that a healthy debate can turn into a nasty one centered on ideals and past rivalries, and policy making will slow down considerably. Our nation does need change, which is why Obama won the election, but the new change and policies must be well thought our in order to truly help our struggling nation. This is why I think the team of rivals will work nicely in today's climate, but the entire cabinet must keep in mind the needs of the countries before their personal egos and ideas.
It might be cheap at this point but John Quincy Adams=House and Andrew Johnson=Senate.
I think Obama's picks so far are crucial to how his presidency will play out. Now I hope he is not just using the Chris Matthews concept of "keeping his friends close, but enemies closer" to just make a statement to the public. I hope he is picking these individuals because they all bring something to the table that contributes to his views. I also thought it was interesting that he is picking people who voted against him (possibly James Jones); now this might be to show that he wants a broader opinion in his presidency which could lead way to more political apathy with the public and government having more opinions on issues. Personally, I think that Rahm Emanuel is one of his best picks so far because he has tended to be very liberal on social issues which is the kind of change that Obama needs. Since the President's Chief of Staff is sometimes said to be "the 2nd most powerful person in Washington" he has made a good decision with Emanuel. Finally, if Obama wants to continue to be effective he needs to keep making good decision on his staff. For example, he has a tough decision for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development between Jessy Jackson Jr. and Shaun Donovan because Jessy is from Illinois and is a strong democrat, while Donovan has been the nation's largest municipal developer of affordable housing. Obama will have a couple of key decisions that are soon to be decided and I think with them his cabinet will become stronger and more opinionated.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that although, as a power move, it was something well done and expected, I somehow feel her performance will not be considered brilliant. It's the status that was really key here, not the actual job's doings/actions. I can see that Obama is putting together a lot of Clinton's administration, who are some of the most brilliant Democrats around today, which is something that he definitely played well. It will be interesting to see this type of "Brain Trust 2.0" that Roosevelt put. FDR also put politically opposing cabinet members and had an administration devoted to their goals. Hopefully we'll see the same again.
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