Talking about credit, credit where credit is due: I’m fairly critical of Barack Obama, believing that he’s a very liberal politician who disguises as a moderate (by talking moderately), but this is a hopeful sign that I may be wrong. ” AS Barack Obama enters the final stages of the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination, he is preparing to detach the core voters of John McCain, the likely Republican nominee, with the same ruthless determination with which he has peeled off Hillary Clinton’s supporters,” the Times (London) reports.

How is he going to do that, you wonder? Easy. “Obama is hoping to appoint cross-party figures to his cabinet such as Chuck Hagel, the Republican senator for Nebraska and an opponent of the Iraq war, and Richard Lugar, leader of the Republicans on the Senate foreign relations committee.”

Democratic partisans won’t like that, I am sure, but to me, this is a great sign. I, and many moderate conservatives / centrists with me greatly respect people like Hagel and Lugar. Not only that, appointing Republicans in his cabinet may also ensure that a Obama-administration won’t be too partisan and ideologically slanted.

The question is of course whether these Republicans are willing to take him up on the offer and, more importantly, whether they’ll actually play an important role or whether appointing them is purely an opportunistic move: an attempt to persuade Republican voters to vote for Obama and giving an Obama administration a “bipartisan face” while its policies are anything but bipartisan?

Yes, there’s always room for criticism and I think that, especially in politics, a critical approach is healthy.

But it’s a hopeful sign nonetheless. I don’t trust this man when it comes to foreign policy, but if he promises to appoint some Republicans at key places who do understand foreign policy, well, Obama becomes less unacceptable. In this regard, it seems that Obama is contemplating appointing Hagel as his defense secretary. That would make Hagel incredibly unpopular among Republican partisans I am sure, but it wouldn’t be a bad move in my opinion.

Others consider Hagel to be a great possible running mate.

I don’t think this is going to happen – that would make Obama very, very unpopular among the Democratic base – but that they’re even talking about it is a great sign indeed.

Again, caution is warranted. For now it’s nothing but gossip, that’s one, and – two – it could also be that they’re talking about this purely out of opportunistic reasons (knowing that they’ve got to convince at least some Republicans to vote Obama if he wants to beat McCain in November). Caution warranted, but a hopeful sign indeed.