Good Cop, Bad Cop

Hello all, and thanks to the Chronicler for the invitation to blog in this space.

Its been two weeks since the election. For me the time has been spent letting new realities sink in as old frames of reference fade away. For someone who is only old enough to have cared about politics in the Bush era, it takes some time to overcome the reflexive wincing at every governmental action and presidential pronouncement. Its a strange feeling to think "oh hey, the president is on TV tonight, I want to catch that." Its an enormous relief, upon hearing of Obama's latest political move, to understand what he's doing and feel that it has a chance to work. And even two weeks later, its an enormous sense of pride and amazement that my new state, Colorado, and my home-state, North Carolina, both went blue this year (go heels!). Especially in NC, its hard to believe that it actually happened.

So I'd like to start off with my major impression of Obama's emerging presidential style. I think the best way to sum it up is: a good cop surrounded by bad cops.

Obama is the good cop to end all good cops. He's got a smile bigger than Julia Roberts. He has spent the last two years building up his brand as a uniter, as a devoted family man, and as an intelligent, progressive yet personally conservative man (it helps that all these things are true). He has international papers already declaring him president of the world. Obama has Al-Queda worried that his popularity in the Muslim world will undermine their message of the U.S. as the great Satan. And after Obama's forgiveness of Lieberman, outreach to McCain, tapping of the moderate Rahm Emmanuel, talks with Hillary for Secretary of State, and potential retention of Republican Bob Gates at Defense, some conservatives have started thinking that, so far, they have more reason to be happy with Obama than liberals do.

Its all in a fortnight's business for the world's best good cop. But as anyone who has ever watched cop shows or the Big Lebowski or worked at a school knows, every good cop needs a bad cop. Every Dude needs a Walter. Every lovable teacher needs a take-no-crap vice principal.

Luckily for Obama, he's smart enough to know this. And he's got a bunch of bad cops watching his back.

First off, Rahm Emmanuel is by all accounts a foul-mouthed cuss of a politician. And his brother was the model for Ari on the HBO show Entourage, a character who is as profane as they come, but is also absolutely loyal to his friends and family and stops at NOTHING to get what is best for them. As Obama's chief of staff, I'd expect Emmanuel to move heaven and earth to do what Obama wants.

Second, Hillary as Secretary of State (if it happens). I've gone back and forth about whether this makes sense or not, but ultimately decided that Hillary will serve the same bad cop role on the world stage that Emmanuel will on the domestic front. Remember during the primaries that Hillary very publicly opposed talking with Iran and refused to apologize for supporting the Iraq War. If Ahmadinejad or Muqtada Sadr had started thinking that Obama was going to be a pushover, Hillary's selection will disabuse them of that notion.

To say that we are entering a difficult time in the world is a giant understatement. These times will demand unprecedented cooperation on a global scale, and for that task I am enormously thankful we have Obama to show the world American leadership that they can respect again. But we will also need tough, mean, take-no-crap people to herd everyone in the same direction, and make sure that people realize that there are consequences for stepping out of line. I'm glad Obama's team has both.