During the election, the McCain campaign attempted to taint Obama's record of stepping across the aisle during his three years in the Senate. Obama responded to the attacks by citing legislation he authored or cosponsored with Republican Senators Coburn, Lugar, Brownbacke, Hatch, and Inhofe to name a few. As Commander in Chief, bipartisanship will prove even more important, especially after the alienation incurred by the Bush administration.
This expectation is not novel. Obama called for a "different kind of politics" over the 21 month campaign and he said in victory speech: "Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long."
With all of the recent talk surrounding appointments within the administration, I appreciate the sustained claims from Obama and his surrogates that his White House will reflect his commitment to bipartisanship. This will also the necessary action behind a candidate who values pragmatism over stubborn. Identical to to Lincoln's appointment of political rivals, Obama has seemed ready and will certainly emulate this action in the upcoming weeks.
His transition team is doing a superb job of emphasizing Obama's commitment to appointing the best people for the respective positions. Valerie Jarrett said yesterday on Meet the Press:
"I think that, in a sense, putting together the Cabinet is like a jigsaw puzzle, and he wants to make sure that it represents the diversity of our country, diversity in perspectives, diversity in race, diversity in geography. And so all of those pieces are going to come together. And he will pick the best person for each position," Jarrett said."
Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel echoed Jarrett hours later on Face the Nation saying:
"The challenges are big enough that there's going to be an ability for people of both parties, as well as independents, to contribute ideas to help meet the challenges on health care, energy, tax reform, education."
The mentioning of Gates, Lugar, Hagel, and maybe even McCain as potential members of his cabinet and/or future is impressive. Lugar seems the most realistic because of the relationship between the Indiana Senator and Obama in the past. In addition, Obama seems content in working with Chairmen Bernanke and Mullen until at least 2009 and Director Mueller until at least 2011.
Hopefully this will be one of the many promises that President Obama follows through on in the coming months.
In the meantime, I need to start reading Doris Kearns Goodwin's book Team of Rivals. She details the story of Lincoln and his decision to include rivals in his cabinet.
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