more good news: Obama's first administration picks
Obama has tapped Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff and John Podesta as transition chief. These two former Clinton advisors are known/said to be tough and experienced.
Why good news?
The front-page article in the C-J emphasizes the "tough partisan infighter" angle-- strongly implying that dealing forcefully and ably with the Republicans in Congress is the primary reason or fruit of the decisions.
If that's the case, it further diminishes Obama's post-partisan vision, his claims to have strong experience by his own merits, and his message of "change".
It also signals his willingness to go against (bad) campaign promises and an unspecified vision. (Similarly, in back-tracking on his commitment not to take public funding, he showed the same willingness to be pragmatic rather than principled.)
But dealing with Republicans in Congress is a minor issue. They're in the minority-- and quite so. Instead, the choices reflect the very reasonable concern that his biggest problem will be handling the Democratic leadership in Congress. He will need tough, experienced advisors to deal with an ornery and powerful Congress. I'd rather have Obama running the show-- or at least being a strong player-- than a dominant Democratic Congress.
posted by Eric Schansberg @ 9:07 AM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
The only thing I would add is that there's vision, there's communicating vision successfully-- and then there's the vital question of what's in the vision (general vs. specific; details; means to various ends; and so on).
I am quite impressed with the same things you note, but not at all clear on what he will do-- either what he really wants to do or what he can do given the constraints that he faces.
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