The Transition
It’s always a delight to watch the peaceful transition of power from one leader to the next, as will take place on Tuesday in Washington. We Americans take this luxury for granted. Since November we have finally seen the American establishment come together, united with goodwill toward the new Commander-in-Chief. Obama’s poll numbers are sky-high during this honeymoon, and his rivals from a bitterly contested journey to the White House such as Hillary Clinton and John McCain have been exceedingly gracious. So has the outgoing president, George W. Bush.
But this period is just that: a honeymoon that must come to an end when Obama’s transition team actually transitions into the hairy task of managing this nation at a historically difficult time. There is no time to blink. Here is what to watch for as we plunge forward as a nation into the deep blue waters.
The Team. Obama has assembled a talented team around him, drawing from both major political parties. There has been a focus on hiring people with Congressional experience into the Executive fold: Senator Hillary Clinton at State, Senator Joe Biden as VP, Senator Tom Daschle at Health, and Rep. Rahm Ehmanuel as Chief of Staff. This decision will stand Obama in good stead as he seeks to push legislation through Congress, a place where many good ideas go to die an ignominious death. Even so as Ehmanuel said today, there will be no “slam dunks” in getting bills passed even as he will try to “Rahm” things through.
Another factor is how much of a hold corporate interests will have on Obama and his team. Ralph Nader frequently called Bush’s administration a slave to corporate interests. Obama, and the Democratic party at large, must prove that corporate cronyism will not derail the change and hope that Obama has promised. These interests are exceedingly powerful in today’s America, especially as they relate to health care, national security, energy policy, and the financial system. Let’s watch and grade Obama as he goes along to see if he can break through the corporate shackles to get things done.
Finally, will the presence of conservative thinkers on the cabinet enhance or hurt the administration’s decision making? For example, two key national security spots are filled by Bush appointees. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and National Security Advisor Jim Jones, although clearly competent, are no bleeding-heart liberals. In theory, we can view these moves as pragmatic on Obama’s part. We’ll see.
Biden’s Role. On a related note, it is probably safe to say that Biden is no Cheney. Although he has been a Senator for 35 years, starting at a time when Obama was a skinny kid in middle school, I have seen a certain deference in Biden. He will not be pulling the strings behind the scenes and running his own shadow regime as Dick Cheney did. I think that bodes well for America. The difference is clearly the fact that Cheney was more intelligent and ideology-driven than Bush was. In the case of Obama and Biden, it is clear that the more capable Obama is in charge and Biden will be his Robin.
Negotiating the Crises. America on many levels has lost its way in the woods. To get out safely will require a re-tooling of the nation’s priorities. A nation that allows health care costs and education costs to spiral out of control year after year is in real trouble. Starting a pre-emptive war on the basis of fear also cannot be a principle to live by. Serving as the biggest cause of the planet’s pollution and over-heating sets a poor example. Helping create a global recession thanks to blatantly corrupt financial practices engineered right here at home does not serve America, or anyone else. Unfortunately we live at the confluence of all these factors. Can Obama help change the underlying culture which caused these problems? I don’t know. That’s expecting a hell of a lot from one man. It’s unfair. But expect we must.
What May Come. At this point we cannot anticipate the crises that will arise during Obama’s first term. We haven’t seen his team manage one successfully yet. The inauguration will be immediately followed by the grunt work of putting out lots of raging fires. It’s an unpredictable world and the plate is already full. Will there be time and energy to deal with something new? Will the nation stay behind Obama through it if he stumbles?
Despite the fears, I feel as though most Americans are cautiously optimistic. After all, we are America. Confidence here reigns supreme above all else. We aren’t in as much peril as General George Washington’s men who marched all night through the snow without shoes, losing comrades to cold and starvation all along the way. They emerged victorious to shock and awe the sleepy Hessians in fierce hand-to-hand combat. The alternative was unthinkable. Let’s see if 21st century America can live up to this legacy that was granted to us 230 years ago.
