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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (30163)	12/6/2008 8:08:07 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

Applause from every side as Obama picks all-star team By Edward Luce in Washington Published: December 6 2008 02:00 \| Last updated: December 6 2008 02:00 ft.com America's view of Barack Obama has undergone a metamorphosis since he was elected on November 4. The man who was pilloried by Democratic rivals in the primaries and then Republicans in the general election as too inexperienced to govern is winning strong bipartisan applause for the way he is handling the transition. With just 46 days left before he is sworn in, Mr Obama has already announced most of the key jobs. The operative word is experience. Republicans have also praised Mr Obama for selecting centrists and even one of their own - Robert Gates, who will stay on as defence secretary. Democrats like the fact that Mr Obama has moved quickly but methodically to assemble his team. This week a CNN poll showed that 75 per cent of Americans approve of his selections, including a majority of Republicans. Half of Republicans even approved of his choice of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. "I cannot recall the last time Republicans felt so positive towards a Democratic presidential figure," says David Frum, a former speechwriter to George W. Bush. "When you have won a decisive victory, like Obama did, gestures to the centre look magnanimous. When you've won a narrow victory they look like weakness." Writing in the Washington Post, Michael Gerson, another former Bush speech writer, said: "Obama's appointments reveal not just moderation but maturity . . . Whatever the caveats, Obama is doing something marvellously right." Frank Luntz, a leading Republican pollster, said: "Obama hasn't made one mistake yet - he's judged the mood of the country perfectly from the night of his election through [to] today." To some extent Mr Obama is benefiting from public alarm about the economy - reinforced by yesterday's steep rise in joblessness over the past month. Poll after poll shows that he has a rare opportunity to exploit a strong demand for non-partisanship. This is assisted by the fact that he won such a decisive victory. Since the civil war only four Democratic presidents have won a majority of the popular vote: Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter and now Mr Obama. This has added legitimacy to his goal of moving with "deliberate haste" - a process that has produced a cabinet in record time. But at some stage the problems will start to pile on. "Obama has shown supreme self-confidence but his in-box is overflowing with problems that would test even the greatest of politicians," says Jim Lindsay, director of the Robert S. Strauss Centre at the University of Texas. "It is relatively easy to assemble a team of all-stars but much harder to make them play well together." Opportunities for Mr Obama to stumble are likely to grow in the next few days. Given that Mr Bush appears to have abdicated his stewardship of the economic rescue plan in the waning days of his administration, Mr Obama's protestations that there is "only one president at a time" might start to ring hollow. Hank Paulson, the outgoing Treasury secretary, will be unable to gain access to the second half of the $700bn for the troubled asset recovery plan without detailed pointers from Mr Obama on how it should be spent. Even some Democrats are frustrated at Mr Obama's reluctance to divulge his priorities. "He is going to have to be more assertive than he's been," said Barney Frank, the Democratic chairman of the House finance committee. "At a time of great crisis with mortgage foreclosures and autos, he says we only have one president at a time. I'm afraid that overstates the number of presidents we have." The other imminent stumbling block will be over Mr Obama's preferences for the minimum $500bn fiscal stimulus that is likely to be passed very early in his first 100 days. If he loses control over the process and the bill gets stuffed with special interest projects the mood could turn. "To govern is to choose," says Mr Lindsay. "And when you choose then you alienate." Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008