Update: Don't forget the old saying: "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer"
A friend of mine, a former political journalist, made a very interesting suggestion last night, one that would put Obama in a place as lofty as Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu:
Why not offer both McCain and Palin roles in the upcoming Obama administration?
My friend's idea follows the jump ...
This is what she said:
Know what I think would be smart, brilliant even, and unprecedented -- Obama should find something, offer something not only to McCain, but more than that, he should find something, anything, for Sarah! Maybe put her in charge of some commission to study approaches to problems of disabled children. Something. That would TOTALLY undercut Republican criticism, really underscore his claim of being the president of all the people, and give the McCain/Palin supporters a stake in making this administration work. And it would undermine their efforts to undermine him in two years and in four years. What could he offer her, as a sop to her supporters? I'm absolutely serious -- I think it would be a brilliant move.
After reading the comments this morning about how Palin comported herself during the campaign has me wondering if Obama should even consider this, but certainly reaching out to the two of them -- even if they don't accept -- might just soothe the ruffled scales of some of the snake-like Republicans who are still hissing. (And that is one place I know I need to go -- I need to quit thinking of the Republicans as bad people -- they've had some VERY bad ideas, but the majority are not bad people.)
Anyway --
To carry out a project to successfully -- in this case, unifying the US as much as possible -- people need to feel a sense of owning a part of the action.
Maybe this would help? Reconciliation ...
Update: Don't forget the old saying: "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer"