Since everyone's having a great time arguing about the things Barack Obama's administration hasn't done yet, I'd like to up the ante by speculating about what the man is actually thinking.
First off, please note that this diary represents nothing but pure unadulterated speculative fantasy. I wish I could back it up with some sort of telepathic transcript, but I'm sure someone would take issue with the violation of civil liberties that telepathy represents.
And away we go!
Do you remember how Obama looked at his acceptance speech? He didn't look happy, or even excited. He looked tired. He looked like someone had just informed him that he had a terminal disease. He looked like a man who understood just how much responsibility was laid upon his shoulders.
Weight of the world.
That's the image that stuck with me, more than any others in recent memory - and believe me, there have been many, many images from this election season to wonder at. The reason that particular image resonated so powerfully with me is because Barack betrayed a sentiment that we can all relate to (unless you're absolutely insane): That if he isn't careful, he might just screw everything up.
I'm not a fan of El Shrubbo by any stretch, but I will concede that a twisted little part of him probably does believe that he was doing the right thing when he __________________ (insert any one of the horrifying things perpetrated by the Bush administration). And he was so secure in his rightness that he surrounded himself with yes people in order to expedite the process of making ideology into law.
The only good thing to come out of that situation was the election of the first minority POTUS. Small comfort I suppose.
Which brings us back to President-elect Obama. The loudest trend on dkos right now seems to be to rip his cabinet picks for not being progressive enough. Or at all. And to be fair, a lot of evidence has been suggested that his cabinet selections aren't the most progressive choices. So there's that.
And then there's the people who insist that the current cabinet selections were chosen based upon pure pragmatism, reflecting Obama's pragmatic centrist mindset, and that whether we like it or not, that's the kind of shared headspace that will get shit done. And maybe it is.
I'd like to suggest another possibility. Keeping in mind Barack Obama is a man who appears to be keenly aware of the burden on his shoulders - the millions of Americans that will depend on him, and the billions around the world who will be affected by his decesions - and who I have no doubt understands the dangers of a White House echo chamber, perhaps we're approaching his rationale from the wrong perspective.
We're assuming that Obama is basing his cabinet selections from a basis of centrism, "Bipartisanship", et cetera, because that is where his heart truly lies, and he's picking people who more or less agree with him.
What if that's not the case? What if Obama is purposely assembling a cabinet full of people who, while having a reputation for getting the job done and for playing well with others, nevertheless will be prone to disagreeing with him?
We don't know for sure what the man is thinking. For all we know he just might do what Jon Stewart jokingly suggested he would do and "enslave the white race". Conversely, he might invite GWB onstage during his inaugural speech and begin passionately making out with him. We just don't know.
Perhaps, in his heart of hearts, he is exactly as passionately progressive as some people want him to be. Perhaps more so. And now that he's in a position to actually get some stuff done, perhaps he'll finally drop the whole bipartisan facade and declare the United Soviet States of America already.
Or maybe not. But you get my point. We can only guess at these things; the only thing we know for sheer is that, as of January 20th, Barack Obama will be the biggest wedge of cheese in the fridge.
This might sound crazy, but a part of me suspects that Barack is surrounding himself with something that has appears to have been severely lacking within the upper echelons of the outgoing administration: a system of checks and balances. Perhaps he's appointing strong-willed people who might cause him to, if even for a second, reconsider whatever plans and policies he wants to implement. Shout him down from whatever leap of faith he wants to take.
Because at the end of the day, Barack Obama and Barack Obama alone is the one who makes the final decisions; and understanding just how much weight each one of those decisions carries, maybe - just maybe - he wants to make damn well sure that it's the best possible one.
Barack's confessed that he's a bit of a comics fan. So let me use a horrifyingly geeky comic book analogy: It's like when Superman entrusted Batman with a hunk of kryptonite. Supes understood that even with the noblest of intentions, someone with his sheer power was capable of doing incredible harm - which is why he made sure someone close to him was capable of taking him down a notch or ten. Just in case.
I know a lot of people who respect Obama's recognition of the valuable role that dissenting voices can play. Perhaps we're underestimating just how much he values them.
I don't know - am I crazy?