Moving On After Obama’s Victory
Now that Barack Obama has won the presidential election the time has come for all of us to move on; from now onwards, we cannot report about ‘the campaign’ any more, about negative ads aired by either side, and what not. No, from now onwards, it will be about policies and about the people Obama surrounds himself with in his administration.
The first such person is Ralph Emanuel. We reported days ago that some sources said that Emanuel may become Obama’s chief of staff. Today we can report that this earlier report was correct: Emanuel has indeed been offered the position. For now, Emanuel is “agonizing” over the question whether he should accept the offer or not.
Emanuel is a strong, passionate and well respected Democratic leader, but he is also famous for his partisan behavior. This man does not consider political disagreements to be purely political: to him, they are personal. He is a fighter, a man who normally wants to take revenge on those who dared oppose him or his allies.
That’s the negative view: he is intelligent, articulate and a political fighter who gets things done. All important characteristics for a chief of staff.
It will be interesting to see who Obama will surround himself with in the coming days and weeks. The people he chooses will, to a degree, say a lot about his vision for his administration – center-left, left, or moderate.
Considering the partisan divide in the last eight years, Obama would be wise to pick one or two Republicans for key positions in the cabinet. Keep Robert Gates, for instance, on as Secretary of Defense: the man is a moderate Republican, willing to work across the aisle, knowledgeable, and generally a fantastic secretary. There are other Republicans out there who could also play a role in an Obama administration.
Will Obama surround himself by the base’s darlings, by centrists and moderates, or even by some Republicans… or by a bit of all? We’ll know in a few weeks time.
I didn’t know much about Emmanuel, but I read he’s a member of the DLC. Interesting…
I am so terrified of Obama for my children and family because of his associations with radical university educated killers who have plans to kill tens of millions of Americans in concentration camps. We are very afraid.
Mary
That’s Rahm- not Ralph, LOL