Political Survivors Filling Obama's Cabinet

The national security team that stood on stage with President-elect Obama this week was all about experience and expertise and, oh yes, politics.

In fact, it's hard to recall a newly elected president who has been able to assemble so much of his Cabinet so quickly, knowing each is politically prepared for the job at hand.

That's one big reason Washington expects this team to be confirmed by the Senate with almost uniform swiftness and ease.

Start with Hillary Clinton, whose ascent to the most visible and prestigious post in the Cabinet has been the biggest story of the month since Election Day. The office of secretary of state has traditionally been a perch for peacocks of one kind or another (William Jennings Bryan in 1912, Henry Kissinger in 1973, Alexander Haig in 1981, James A. Baker III in 1989), but the job is different since the terrorist attacks of 2001.

Now the top diplomat is introduced as a member of the president's "national security team," a nod to the darker portents of foreign affairs in our time.

Yet, State remains the crown jewel in the president's array of appointments, and it seemed appropriate for the woman who fully expected to be moving into the Oval Office herself in January 2009. No prize could be consolation for what she has been denied, of course. But the president-elect decided that having her on board is the best way to harness her star power and prevent her becoming an independent power base outside the administration.

Anyone who remembers the vituperation directed at Hillary Clinton in the past 15 years must marvel now at the reaction to her nomination — remarkably favorable in both parties, or at least within the mainstream of each. There will be resistance from the farther right and left elements, especially in the blogosphere, but neither has much representation on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Keep an eye on Democrats on the panel who have long opposed the war in Iraq (Russell Feingold, James Webb), who will want to be assured this is the Hillary Clinton of the campaign trail in 2008 and not the one who voted for the war in 2002. But do not be surprised if the committee winds up endorsing her nomination with little or no dissent.

More resistance and more questioning await Eric Holder, the former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia who is poised to become the first African-American attorney general. Holder, too, was introduced as part of the "national security team," which pulls him in among the huddle of officials under the cloak of national emergency. But that is a shelter he is not likely to need.

Holder is a target because in the closing days of the Clinton administration, when he served as deputy attorney general, he signed off on the pardon of Marc Rich, a fugitive investor who fled charges of fraud and income tax evasion. Accounts of Holder's complicity in the controversial pardon differ, and a congressional committee in 2002 argued that Holder had a "significant impact" in the pardon process. But an investigation of the entire matter by a federal grand jury concluded there had been no criminal wrongdoing.

The Rich case will be vetted anew in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Holder, and there may be several votes against his confirmation. But what is known about the case at this point will not be a substantial obstacle; and even if it were, we should recall that John Ashcroft's nomination for the same job survived the opposition of 42 senators in 2001.

At least as likely to be confirmed is Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, the nominee at Homeland Security. This Democrat rose to prominence in a conservative red state on the Mexican border. No one can be prepared for everything in the world of terrorism, hurricanes and immigration crisis, but Napolitano will make a strong case for being as ready as anyone.

Rounding out the "national security team" members who must win Senate confirmation is Susan Rice, the Obama adviser on foreign affairs who, like the current secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, came to government from academia. Susan Rice has been around the block in the National Security Agency and State Department under President Clinton, rising as far as deputy secretary.

In her new role as permanent representative to the United Nations, Rice may at first be more visible internationally than at home. But that can change. And in a regime far less at odds with the U.N. than the Bush administration, a greater role for the U.N. ambassador may be expected. In any event, any flak Rice faces in Senate confirmation will most likely come from the chamber's hard-core U.N. critics, a subgroup diminished by recent retirements and election results.

Two other members of the Obama team will not need Senate confirmation. One is Robert Gates, who escapes the ritual because he is already serving as secretary of Defense. Surely there can be no safer confirmation strategy than appointing the incumbent.

But Gates is also pitch perfect politically because he combines continuity of management with a reassuring signal to military allies, domestic conservatives and "hard power Democrats" alike. Above all, he has shown himself a master of the internal politics of the Pentagon, wooing the uniformed services and defense civilians and contractors with impressive aplomb.

Complementing the Gates nomination is that of James Jones, the retired Marine general and former NATO commander whose skepticism about Iraq is well-known. He will have a critical role within the White House as national security adviser, and just as critical a role in maintaining the new president's credibility in the military and the intelligence community.

While not needing Senate confirmation, Jones has all the skills and sensitivity he would need to win it. Like Gates, he has not only survived in a highly contentious sphere but has won respect across the factions.

Add to these names the economic "dream team" announced last week and the coming nominations for Health and Human Services (Tom Daschle) and Commerce (Bill Richardson) and you have a Cabinet composed of skilled political operators and holders of high office. Daschle was the Democratic leader in the Senate for a decade, and Richardson served in Congress and the Clinton Cabinet for two decades before becoming governor of New Mexico in 2002.

The same could be said of the first "presidential" appointment, Joe Biden, who brings to the vice presidency no less than 36 years in the Senate, including stints as chairman of Justice and Foreign Relations, as well as the scars of two presidential campaigns.

Nearly all the stars in the new Obama firmament will be substantially older than their boss and will have spent far more time in Washington. Their shared value is not just time on the job but the instinct and savvy of the political survivor. These are men and women who have been, as soldiers say, bloodied. And they are back for more.