A team of retreads. Robert Rubin has disappeared from the economic photo-ops, however.
On Dec 8, 4:25 am, "\"Lone Wolf\"" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Obama’s Team of Reactionaries > 8 December 2008 > > In recent weeks, numerous media accounts have referred to President- > elect Barack Obama's cabinet selections as a "team of rivals." The > reference is to a book of the same name by the historian Doris Kearns > Goodwin on Abraham Lincoln's choices for key cabinet posts after his > victory in the 1860 election, when he confronted the secession crisis > and then the Civil War. > > The media comparisons between Lincoln's and Obama's cabinets are > specious, betraying a combination of historical ignorance and > political shallowness. The false analogy serves two political > functions. First, it implicitly imparts to Obama a progressive and > democratic aura which is, in fact, belied by his cabinet selections, > all of whom are advocates of militarism abroad and austerity at home. > Second, the analogy distorts and demeans the historically progressive > character of Lincoln and his government, which embodied a profoundly > democratic and ultimately revolutionary agenda, centered on the > struggle against slavery and the preservation of the union. > > The use of the term "team of rivals" in relation to the Obama cabinet > rests on the president-elect's selection for secretary of state of his > chief opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary > Clinton, and his retention from the Bush administration of Robert > Gates for defense secretary. Obama won the nomination over Clinton, > who was the early favorite, by appealing to broad opposition to the > war in Iraq among Democratic voters and the population at large, > incessantly reminding voters that "she got it wrong" in her support > for the invasion and presenting himself as the candidate who would > bring a rapid end to the war. He then won the general election based > on a powerful voter repudiation of the Bush administration's > militaristic foreign policy and its pro-corporate and anti-democratic > domestic agenda. > > Gates oversaw the conduct of the "surge" in Iraq that drowned the > Sunni resistance in blood and ethnically cleansed vast areas of the > country. He has publicly opposed any timetable for the withdrawal of > US forces. > > Obama's top cabinet appointments thus represent a brazen repudiation > of his campaign rhetoric, a slap in the face to the millions of > workers and youth who voted for him because they believed or hoped > that the victory of the candidate of "change" would really signal a > change for the better, and a clear signal to the ruling elite that his > administration will, in all essentials, continue the imperialist and > militarist policies of the Bush administration. > > This is not only not analogous to Lincoln's approach, it is the > opposite. Lincoln's key cabinet picks, while they had been rivals for > the Republican Party nomination of 1860, in no way represented a > retreat from the central principals of his campaign and the > aspirations of his voters: preserving the union and preventing the > expansion of slavery. These appointments included William Seward as > secretary of state, Salmon Chase as treasury secretary, and Edward > Bates as attorney general. > > Lincoln rose to prominence in the young Republican Party by giving > political voice to mass popular sentiment against the expansion of > slavery to the new states and territories of the West. Largely because > of his genius for clearly presenting the critical political issues > related to slavery, he bested more prominent politicians such as > Seward (senator from New York) and Chase (governor of Ohio) in the > contest for the 1860 Republican presidential nomination. But despite > numerous political and personal differences, Seward, Chase and all of > Lincoln's other cabinet selections shared the central aim of the > Republican Party—preserving the union and defeating the rebellion of > the Southern slave owners. > > Lincoln did not invite rivals into his cabinet who disagreed with him > on basic questions of principle, such as Illinois Senator Stephen > Douglas, who represented the northern wing of the Democratic Party in > the 1860 election and who advocated further concessions to the > southern elite on the slavery issue, or John C. Breckinridge, the > candidate of the Democratic Party's southern wing, who favored the > expansion of slavery. To have matched Obama's cynicism, Lincoln would > have needed to appoint Douglas as secretary of state and Breckinridge > as secretary of war. > > The "rivals" he did appoint to his cabinet all shared his hatred of > slavery and his determination to defeat the pro-slavery forces, by > force of arms if necessary. As a senator in the 1850s, Seward earned a > reputation as one of the most articulate opponents of slavery. He > denounced the Compromise of 1850, which allowed for the expansion of > slavery and sanctioned the passage of the reactionary Fugitive Slave > law. In so doing, Seward memorably appealed to a "higher law" than the > Constitution. In the wake of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which permitted > slavery in the new states under the guise of popular sovereignty, he > called the question of slavery the "irrepressible conflict" that could > not be avoided by the sorts of compromises favored by Douglas and > other northern Democrats. > > Edward Bates, from Missouri, was a former Whig who, after a long > period of semi-retirement, regained political prominence based on his > opposition to the expansion of slavery to neighboring Kansas. His > selection as attorney general was designed to win support among the > border states for the Lincoln administration and its struggle against > the Southern slaveocracy. > > Kearns Goodwin makes much of Chase's jealousy toward Lincoln. But > Chase's opposition to slavery was never in doubt. He made his > political name as a young Ohio attorney defending fugitive slaves > against their masters, and was a founder of the Free-Soil Party, a > precursor to the Republican Party. After Lincoln accepted his > resignation as treasury secretary in 1864, he quickly appointed Chase > as chief justice of the Supreme Court, where his decisions upheld > Reconstruction in the South. > > In securing the 1860 Republican nomination, Lincoln beat out his main > rivals, Seward, Chase and Bates. Then, after winning the general > election, he invited them to assume key cabinet posts. He did so not > simply because he was a shrewd politician, but because he wished to > unite the various sections of the Republican Party behind the > aspirations of genuinely democratic forces in the country and create > the best possible conditions for crushing the Southern planters' > rebellion. > > In contrast to Lincoln's Team of Rivals, Obama has chosen a Team of > Reactionaries, which embodies the president-elect's cynical and > contemptuous repudiation of his campaign rhetoric and the aspirations > of the vast majority of those who voted for him. > > Tom Eley --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
