Watching Obama choose Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod, and Robert Gibbs as chief of staff, senior adviser, and White House press secretary, I had the distinct impression that these are intelligent people who "get things done." I rather liked that. I also got that they're veterans and can be tough, not cronies or namby-pambies. Someone criticized the choices as old-style, but what I picked up is that Obama wants people in his staff who know politics and how it's played, so he can get done what he wants, which is a sea change in the way politics have been conducted. They don't have to be black or young right now; that will happen. In one article someone slipped in the caveat that Rahm Emanuel was also a moral person at heart, so any toughness he may demonstrate will be driven by that. I suspect many of his picks will be moral people.
A case in point about who's in charge: When Obama met General David Petraeus in Baghdad, after being briefed about Iraq, he said, according to the Time Magazine article by Joe Klein: "You know, if I were in your shoes, I would be making the exact same argument. Your job is to succeed in Iraq on as favorable terms as we can get. But my job as a potential Commander in Chief is to view your counsel and interests through the prism of our overall national security." In effect, he was saying, as your Commander-in-Chief, if I'm elected, I must have an overall point of view for the entire situation. That's smart; that's strong; that's the right way, I believe.
Rather than play the blame-game or go for retribution, Obama may also make use of people who may have opposed him, such as Powell or even Rice, preferring that approach to out-and-out tossing them under the bus. Unlike Bush, who, like Circe, turned people into swine, Barack Obama may offer them a path to retribution, to a chance to do good and an opportunity to atone.
That's my current prejudice, anyway.
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