There is a logic behind Obama’s decision to enlist reasonable Republicans in his administration and convert them to the Democratic Party. In some cases, the logic is easy to calculate. Keeping Robert Gates on as Secretary of Defense gives Obama cover for his foreign policies. Arlen Specter gives the Senate Democratic Caucus sixty members. John McHugh’s House seat is a potential pick-up for the Democrats. Governor Jon Huntsman was a potential Republican presidential nominee in 2012. But, there was no obvious political benefit to appointing Ray LaHood as Secretary of Transportation or Jim Leach as head of the National Endowment for the Humanities. They were both retired.
The benefit of all these appointments is cumulative and of a more general nature than any narrow, immediate advantage. What he is doing is making it safe for former Republicans to associate themselves with a party they have opposed all their lives. He is taking away arguments against cooperating with and identifying with his administration. If Robert Gates and Colin Powell support his foreign policies, then they can’t be that radical. If Jim Leach, Lincoln Chafee, and Ray LaHood support his domestic policies, then they can’t be too out of the mainstream. If Arlen Specter has just switched to the Democrats, then his policies towards Israel cannot be anti-semitic.
The Republicans still launch the same attacks. Obama is a socialist. He’s soft on terrorism. He’s a secret Muslim who wants to undermine the Jewish state. The Republicans would have made these charges anyway. But the charges have no saliency because everywhere you look there is a former Republican who is helping to implement those policies. If it isn’t a Republican, it’s Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod. How could they be too tough on Israel?
What began with the nomination of Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State has just continued. Even the decision to let Joe Lieberman keep his Homeland Security chair should be seen in this larger scheme. Obama has piece-by-piece peeled away all centers of potential opposition and put them to work enacting his policies.
For progressives, this has been a little frustrating. All these jobs that have gone to centrist Democrats and Republicans could have gone to progressives. And there are lost opportunities involved, including some watered down policy in some areas. But Obama is building a super-party. There is almost no one making intellectually coherent arguments against his policies right now. What little there is is coming from his left, not his right.
For impatient and frustrated progressives, my advice is to keep things in perspective. FDR got a lot done with a Big Tent party, too. But his Big Tent included, as its biggest part, the segregationist South. Obama’s Big Tent includes main street Republicans and foreign policy realists. I’ll take that trade in a heartbeat, even if it means I have a less pure party than I might like.
For progressives, the battle is not to keep Obama from expanding the party in the center. The battle is to own all the seats that demographics say that we should own.
