Public Works

President-Elect Obama has announced that at least the opening phase of his economic recovery plan will entail a massive public works program, including renovations to government buildings, rebuilding schools, rebuilding road and bridge infrastructure, upgrading broadband internet connections, and digitizing the transmission of medical records. Overall, he hopes to create 2.2 million jobs. See the story at Politico.

This is presumably the first of many announcements on this subject from Obama, as he attempts to integrate his campaign priorities with job creation, this first one feels distinctly like a 21st century reference to the programs FDR tried to fight the great depression with. Taken with the existing bailout package, and the possibility of additional packages to come, Obama is certainly working to energetically address the financial crisis. While these are certainly worthy goals for job creation programs, Obama has the opportunity to take his powerful new cabinet and address far more controversial issues in his first hundred days. With the speed and resolution Obama has demonstrated in recent weeks, it feels like the honeymoon period should be reduced from one hundred to ten days, or extended to his whole first term.

I will insert this one reservation about the announcements today, at the risk of seeming a Luddite: I do not like these programs to digitize medical records and transmit them over the internet. Firstly, at this point there is no standard format for digitized records, meaning that doctors and hospitals can send materials to one another, but not necessarily read them when they get there. Secondly, I am just bracing myself for the leaks. No network can be made entirely secure- a national network with thousands of access points and tens of thousands of users is a security nightmare. Medical records might not have the same sort of profit motive as banking info, but unlike your credit information, they really can't be repaired once leaked. Hospitals stand to save tremendous sums using digital storage, but we are asking for trouble if they start networking that information. It is quite possible that Obama will attempt to address these problems. It is probably likely that I am attempting to turn back the tide on this one.

The Grownups

Generally, when American politics gets reflected in the British press, the picture that results is slightly, subtly, wrong. You the reader are left to puzzle over how different national perspectives can be.

However, this article from the Guardian actually reflects the picture rather well, giving the perspective one hopes to gain from distance.

Why are the British waiting for Obama to take office?

"After John McCain threatened the world with a putative vice-president who seemed to regard her own ignorance as a credential for high office, and after he granted Joe the Plumber the status of chief adviser on taxation policy, it's a relief that the US will soon be run by people with qualifications to do the job."

OK, you already knew why they were excited- I just wanted to put that quote in the post. It encapsulates a primary dynamic of the election for me in a single sentence.

Also, a note to all you people in MOVEON and others whining that the President Elect isn't "changing" enough: stop being upset that Obama is hiring experienced people to work in his administration. Stop being upset that he is charting centrist policies. Why should you stop? Because he told you, repeatedly, during the election that he was going to govern this way. We hired this guy to be competent and sane- with his press conferences over the last three days, he has looked both, and is cutting a remarkable contrast to W, who seems to have finally been crushed by the weight of circumstance. Let's get through the next month and a half, let the President try to save us from a depression, acknowledge that industrial societies are destroying the planet, and release our untried prisoners from military prisons. Then we can start arguing about the finer nuances.

Picking the Team

So Hillary Rodham Clinton will join the line of women to hold the office of Secretary of State- at least, we are left to assume this. The NYT broke that story like 2 days ago, and we've yet to hear a tornado of denials. It therefore must be so.

With this news, we are greeted with another round of Doris Kearns Goodwin-inspired stories, like this one in the NYT, extolling the virtues of a "team of rivals" in the White House.

Goodwin has sold a bunch of copies of her book about the Lincoln cabinet, and rather given some of the commentariat the vapors with regard to this style of government. At the risk of going far, far outside my area of competence here, wasn't the Lincoln model seen as a sign of weakness when he did it? A desperate move by an executive whose administrative unit was literally tearing itself apart?

And obviously, in a broader sense, putting Clinton at State (leaving aside for a moment questions about why_on_Earth she'd leave a senate seat for life to take the job) nods toward the idea that Obama is also a fan of this model. John Kennedy also appears to have used a modified version of this, thus ensuring that the concept appears historically with an aura of hallowed tradition.

However, probably far more presidents have attempted to use this model and failed than have managed to use it successfully. Think of examples of cabinet officers installed to inform policy debates with their "opposition" perspectives, who have subsequently been marginalized by presidents who might or might not appreciate hearing their perspective at moments of crisis but didn't actually want to make policy with them, and who as a result might have been better served by someone who could make policy suggestions that actually reflected the president's views. Think of George Ball, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and most recently, Colin Powell. The "team of rivals" is appealing for its elegance and what it says about the person capable of using it well, but many fine presidents have found it unworkable, if they ever attempted to use it at all. The "team of rivals" is the governing equivalent of a racing yacht- magnificent if handled skillfully, but delicate even then, and ruinous in the hands of those temperamentally unsuited to it. Remember what happened to LBJ with JFK's advisers?

And anyway, considering Hillary has her own national following and the marital equivalent of a loose cannon smashing around below deck, aren't ya just asking for unnecessary headaches with this? Is there any reason to believe she can play well with others? Hillary might turn out to be a fantastic part of an Obama governing team. But she might just as easily turn out to be a constant reminder of the tragi-drama of the '90's.