Looking Forward: Notes and Ideas for the Weeks Ahead

• Imagine if John Edwards were still politically viable. He’d probably be Attorney General, meaning he’d go after everybody on Wall Street in light of this financial turmoil with the sole purpose of making headlines by playing class warfare. It would have been extraordinarily counterproductive and made Spitzer/Giuliani look like benevolent prosecutors. Thankfully, he was busted for who he is.
• In a previous piece, I argued that If Obama wins he should choose McCain for Secretary of Defense. This will obviously not happen, but an added bonus for him would be that McCain would vacate his Senate seat. This in turn would give AZ Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano the power to fill his seat with a Democrat, meaning that the Democrats would be closer to the filibuster proof sixty seat majority.
• Speaking of getting sixty seats, Obama should consider that type of thinking by looking at Republican senators who come from states with Democratic governors. He could choose Judd Gregg from New Hampshire for Commerce Secretary or Homeland Security since he has experience on those matters.  TN Republican Lamar Alexander for Education and Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley for Agriculture  also come to mind. Obama can defend these choices in the name of bipartisanship while these Senators should consider these positions because they are old and are effectively powerless as Republicans.
• If Ted Stevens pulls of the Senatorial win, he will have to step down because of his conviction on seven counts of bribery. This means that Governor Sarah Palin can choose who she likes to replace him. She should consider herself for the job. It would eliminate her from the 2012 Republican nomination, but it would give her a national platform. She wouldn’t face another election until 2014, meaning that she could really buff up on the issues for 2016 or 2020.
• Republicans are already trashing Barack Obama’s choice of Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff. It’s pointless to do given that every Chief of Staff is partisan, and he engineered moderate measures like NAFTA through Congress in the Clinton White House. Obama will certainly give them food for fodder, but this is not it. Republicans should learn that old cliche: Pick your Battles.
• Emanuel’s choice should also reassure wary Jewish voters. Given that Emanuel is openly Jewish and a steadfast supporter of Israel, it’s hard for anyone to truly believe that Obama will be anti-Israel. Former Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleisher should quit trashing Obama on Israel.
• Liberals consistently make sweeping generalizations about how the world hates the Bush Administration and Democrats need to repair the US’s image around the world. But many countries have appreciated, or at least have somewhat appreciated Bush’s foreign policy. Including, but not limited to: Australia; India; China; many countries in Africa; Japan; Turkey; and Colombia. On Australia, lets see if Obama continues Bush’s warm outreach. During the election, McCain went out of his way to write an op-ed praising them; Obama did not. In the primaries, Obama’s campaign trashed Hillary Clinton’s relationship with India. Will he show steadfast support for India’s nuclear ambitions? Will he alienate India’s Hindus by speaking about their persecution of Christians? Does Obama alienate the Chinese government by bringing up the Tibet issue, or does he only speak about it infrequently like Bush? Will he continue Bush’s successful AIDS program in Africa? And will he employ Bush’s realpolitik of not really speaking about human rights violations in Africa in return for vital information about terrorists? Japan was offended when the Bush Administration recently started to engage North Korea because they fear that America would not defend them from North Korea. Obama supported these talks; McCain did not. Will he change his position or will he alienate Japan? The Turkish government was very upset when Pelosi, Obama, and other Democrats wanted to bring up a resolution condemning their genocide of Armenians in the 1920s. Will he back away from this or will he bring it up? And Turkey desperately wants stability in Iraq, so how will Obama consider that? Colombia really wanted a free trade deal passed this year. Bush, McCain, and Republicans gladly supported it, but Obama did not. Will Obama make good with Colombia? These are all complex foreign policy questions that Bush has a mixed record on— certainly not a “horrible” record. Let’s see how the whiz kid will do.