Posted by
flagwaver on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 8:51:42 AM
A lot can be said about President Elect Obama, but one thing that no one should ever think abut this guy is that he is in over his head when it comes to playing politics. After running a nearly two year presidential campaign based on a message of Hope and Change, Mr. Obama has given us very little of either and in a way it shows that he is quickly becoming a master at playing political hardball, with a bit of a Machiavellian twist to it.
The first thing that Obama did was go find one of the most partisan Clintonistas ever to roam the halls of the White House to become his chief of staff. After months of bleating that the problem in Washington was the intense partisanship that pervaded nearly every debate or decision, Mr. Obama went out and chose a man in Rahm Emanuel who embodies that type of partisan division that he so profoundly professed to want to be rid of in the capital. And when challenged (mildly) by the press about the appointment, Mr. Obama bristled and defended his appointment by letting everyone know that it was going to be imperative for him to have skilled Washington insiders on his team, and that the only place to draw them from was from inside the Clinton inner circle. So much for change, eh?
But what has fascinated me the most is how well Obama has lived up to the old adage “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.” Starting with the choice of Joe Biden as his Vice Presidential running mate, Barack Obama has set about co-opting every major Democratic voice that could be a real challenge to him in the future. Look at his appointments and you will see that he has brought in every major challenger to him in the primaries and handed them plum assignments in his new administration. Joe Biden will be locked back into the VP closet that existed before Dick Cheney held the office; Bill Richardson will be presiding at Commerce (although I can’t quite figure out what qualifies him for the post); Tom “Puff” Daschle will be somewhere being concerned, and in the biggest coup of all Hillary Clinton will succeed Condi Rice at State. Now we all know that Hillary’s idea of “diplomacy” basically consists of either a. playing the victim or b. throwing things at Slick Willie up in the White House residence, but her appointment isn’t really about her being a diplomat. It is all about protecting Obama as a viable candidate for reelection in four years.
By giving these people high level appointments, he has squelched any voice that could really be strong enough to raise a primary challenge to him if he turns out to be Jimmy Carter Part Deux. If his administration turns out to be a total failure, then all of those people he brought into it, especially Hillary Clinton, will be tarnished beyond repair. And besides, how would it look if one of them, while serving in the administration, decided to challenge the sitting President for leadership of the Party? To my recollection it has never happened in modern times, and Obama has made damned sure that it is not going to happen to him! The only person outside the Obama Administration that could possible challenge Obama would be John Edwards, but in all reality his affair with Rielle Hunter has basically destroyed his political viability…which is why he hasn’t been slated to be Attorney General. Because if Edwards had simply lost to Obama in the primaries we all know that he would be part of Team Obama right now.
People may have thought that Bill Clinton was the smoothest political operator on the scene, but I think that Obama has taken that mantle away from Slick as well. This dude is as smooth as they get and I can hardly wait to see what moves he makes next.