Thursday, November 06, 2008

Obama's Team

I was reading a reprint of an article today from the Christian Science Monitor how one of Barack Obama's favorite books is "Team of Rivals", a book detailing Abraham Lincoln's style of administration during the Civil War. That was a book I enjoyed very much, both the writing and the portrait of Lincoln that Doris Kearns Goodwin painted. Lincoln was a very great man, but it is to be hoped that other men, sometimes even lesser men, can benefit from an admiration of his style of "keeping his enemies close", of being "inclusive". Many in Lincoln's cabinet were the exact same men who had vied with him for the republican nomination and had pretty thoroughly disrespected him, behind his back and to his face! They did not immediately decide to be agreeable to Lincoln even after becoming members of his cabinet--for a while, there was just too much Ego in the room!

I find it encouraging that President-elect Obama admires Lincoln in that regard. Of course, it's easier to admire such greatness than it is to emulate it, so I won't be holding my breath or holding my water or anything else. Nonetheless, I might actually start to believe that such grandeur is still POSSIBLE these days, and that would be a very great thing in itself.

Below is the article from the Christian Science Monitor:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20081106/cm_csm/epresident

2 comments:

  1. I know bipartisanship is what we should be striving for, but I want to punish the bastards. Hopefully, Obama is a wiser soul than me.

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  2. The truth is, though, that there is no one there. Such enemies are an "empty suit". Maybe they were there a minute ago or last year, but they're never still there when your chance for vengeance comes. So maybe a Wise Man can do better than the rest of us!

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Abandon hope, all ye who enter here! (At least put on your socks and pants.)