"I can tell you this. My goal is to have the best possible government. And that means me winning. So, I'm very practical in my thinking. I'm a practical guy. One of my heroes is Abraham Lincoln. Awhile back, there was a wonderful book written by Doris Kearns Goodwin called 'Team of Rivals,' in which she talked about how Lincoln basically pulled all the people he'd been running against into his Cabinet. Because whatever personal feelings there were, the issue was, 'How can we get the country through this time of crisis?' I think that has to be the approach one takes to the vice president and the Cabinet,"
- Barack Obama
"That has to be the approach that one takes," Obama said, "whether it's vice president or cabinet, whoever. And by the way that does not exclude Republicans either. You know my attitude is that whoever is the best person for the job is the person I want. ... You know, if I really thought that John McCain was the absolute best person for the Department of the Homeland Security, I would put him in there."
At a very young age, he ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Illinois General Assembly. Then several years later the young lawyer from Illinois won election to the state legislature. He served four successive terms in the Illinois House of Representatives. When he entered the presidential nomination he was the underdog, but he was percieved as a moderate who could win the west. His chief rival was the popular Senator from New York. The Senator ran a campaign based on experience. It was a bitter nominating fight, but he won. His campaign strategy was to sustain party enthusiasm and thus obtain high turnout. He focused first on the party platform, and second on his own life story, making the most of his boyhood poverty, his background, his native genius, and his rise from obscurity. The goal was to emphasize the superior power of "free labor," whereby a common man could work his way to the top by his own efforts.
When he was elected the president of the United States he commissioned a team of rivals. He made his former rivals for the nomination his secretary of state, his secretary of the treasury and his attorney general.
For a republican, Abraham Lincoln had a diverse cabinet, he had a mixture of former Whigs and Democrats, a combination of conciliators and hard-liners.
He harnessed all of that knowledge into winning the great war of his time. The Civil War.
Little did he know that 148 years later, history would have the opportunity to repeat itself.
What team of rivals will Barack Obama put together to revive our economy and get us out of this war?
Will it include republicans such as Chuck Hagel, Arnold Schwarzenneger, John Warner?
How about an independent in Michael Bloomberg?
Or Clinton supporters, Ed Rendell, Ted Strickland, Wes Clark, Dianne Feinstein, Evan Bayh.
Rivals for the Democratic Nomination: Bill Richardson, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, or Chris Dodd.
What would your ideal team of rivals look like?