At long last, the election hubbub has settled down. Every pundit worth his salt has completed his obligatory postmortem of the '08 election. Winners in congressional races are jockeying for the best office space in the Rayburn, Longworth and Cannon House Office Buildings. Losers are sadly packing their bags and seeing if they can squeeze their name onto a U.S. post office in their district before January. Campaign staffers seem to finally be running out of stories to whisper to reporters about Sarah Palin.
Yes, it's time for the ostensible reason for all the campaigning: governing. President-elect Barack Obama will not take office until January, but everyone is focused on his Cabinet picks, which are our best clue yet as to how he plans to govern. Here's a sampling of what we know, what we don't know and what that tells us:
Chief of Staff: Rahm Emanuel. "Chief of Staff" is a pretty low-key title for a very high-level position. In the White House, the CoS is, in most cases, second only to the president himself in terms of power and access. The ultimate insider, it's the chief of staff's job to manage the egos of hundreds of high-level staffers, zealously guard access to the president (his role is often compared to a gatekeeper) and translate the president's thoughts and desires into actual, concrete policy. Obama's choice of fellow Illinoisan Emanuel, a combative Chicago-area congressman, reveals an appreciation for the man's hard-nosed, aggressive style and finely tuned political instincts. Emanuel, who once mailed a dead fish to a pollster who aggravated him (and who once rattled off a list of political enemies while shouting, "Dead!"and plunging a knife into a table), commands respect among Democrats and fear among Republicans. His background in the House of Representatives signals that Obama wants someone who he knows can push his agenda through Congress.
Secretary of State: Hillary Clinton. It's a scenario nobody would have dreamed of two years ago, but it looks as though January will bring a President Obama and a Secretary of State Clinton. Clinton has yet to accept anything, and an Obama offer would be contingent on his team making sure President Bill Clinton's foreign business dealings don't turn up anything that could be a conflict of interest for the SecState, but most observers expect things to proceed as planned. Obama's surprising preference of Clinton for his chief representative on foreign policy is partially the result of his fascination with historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team of Rivals," an outstanding political biography of Abraham Lincoln that explores how the newly elected Lincoln went about appointing his former rivals for the presidency to his Cabinet and harnessing their ingenuity and talents for the betterment of his administration. A great read and an interesting window into one of Obama's political influences.
Secretary of Defense: Robert Gates? Unconfirmed leaks are hinting at what has long been rumored -- that Obama might ask President Bush's SecDefense appointee, Robert Gates, to stay on for a year or two as the head of the department. Obama's willingness to consider Gates is a testament to Gates' uncanny ability to please both Democrats and Republicans (a skill the previous secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, lacked). It's also a demonstration of Obama's commitment to a more bipartisan cabinet.
Attorney General: Eric Holder. Holder, if confirmed, will be the first black attorney general, and a welcome change for Democrats tired of the Bush administration's John Ashcroft/Alberto Gonzales one-two punch of incompetence and partisanship. A deputy AG in the Clinton White House, he has a much more mainstream view of presidential power, favors shutting down Guantanamo Bay, opposes torture and has an excellent reputation in legal circles. The only sticking point at his confirmation hearings will be the question of how heavily he was involved in President Clinton's last-minute pardon of tax-evader and Clinton donor Marc Rich.
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Michael Sherry is a senior majoring in political science. He can be reached at Michael.Sherry@tufts.edu.