Obama following in Lincoln's footsteps with strong aides

Washington: Presidents typically say they want to be surrounded by strong-willed people who have the courage to disagree with them. President-elect Barack Obama, reaching out to Hillary Clinton and Republicans, actually might mean it.

Abraham Lincoln meant it when he took office in 1861 with pro-slavery secessionist southern states about to launch the American Civil War. He appointed his bitter adversaries to crucial posts, choosing as war secretary a man who had called him a "long-armed ape" who "does not know anything and can do you no good".

Richard Nixon did not mean it. "I don't want a government of yes-men," he declared. But among all the president's men, those who said no did so at their peril.

Clinton club

It so happens that Obama and New York Senator Clinton share a reverence for Team of Rivals, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's book about how Lincoln brought foes into his fold. Clinton listed it during the campaign as the last book she had read. Obama, clearly a student of Lincoln, spoke of it several times. Now past could be prologue.

Obama is considering Clinton for secretary of state or another senior position. He made one Democratic presidential opponent, Delaware Senator Joe Biden, his vice-presidential pick. "I think it reflects a great inner strength on Obama's part that he is seriously considering creating a team of rivals as Lincoln did," Goodwin said.

"By surrounding himself with people who bring different perspectives, he will increase his options, absorb dissenting views and heighten his ability to speak empathetically to people on different sides of each issue.

Challenge

The challenge, of course, is to ensure that the discussions do not become paralysing, and that once a decision is made the inner circle accepts that the time for debate is over," she said.

During the primary campaign, Clinton dismissed Obama as a neophyte who could not be trusted to handle crises and who had not done much more than make fancy speeches. Yet she strongly supported Obama in the general election campaign, not unlike William Henry Seward, the Clinton of his day.

Seward, the front-runner in the race for the 1860 Republican nomination, was so confident of taking the prize that he went on an eight-month tour of Europe, only to see Lincoln vanquish him. Lincoln made him secretary of state.