Department of Analogies
I think Charles Mahtesian’s take in Politico on the political strategems behind picking John McHugh to serve as Army Secretary is pretty shrewd. As with the co-optation of Jon Huntsman, Ray LaHood, and Robert Gates, Obama is acting in a canny way to not just be “bipartisan” but to undermine opposition to the progressive agenda. Mahtesian lays this all out quite well, but then offers this analogy:
All at once, Obama has selected a nominee who burnishes his bipartisan credentials, opened up a seat prime for Democratic pickup and drained the GOP reservoir of one of the few remaining Northeastern moderates.
It’s an event that’s happening with enough frequency to suggest the presence of a design, a plan that not only sketches the outline of a reelection strategy but manages to drive a wedge into the opposition at the same time. Call it a Sherman’s March in reverse — an audacious attempt by Obama to burn down any lines of escape for Republicans from their one refuge of popularity, the deep South.
I like Civil War history a lot, but I don’t really see the comparison here. A better analogy might be to say that FDR enacted a “Sherman’s March in reverse” using New Deal spending and the pre-WWII defense buildup to funnel funds to build up infrastructure in the South and keep oft-skeptical Dixiecrats in his political coalition. At any rate, interesting article.
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Rep John McHugh Bolsters GOP Ranks Inside Obama Administration
We already have Robert Gates and Ray LaHood and Jon Huntsman, and now Carl Hulse reports that another Republicans will be joining the Obama administration as Rep John McHugh (R-NY) agrees to serve as Secretary of the Army:
Democrats say they would have a chance at winning the seat though it would still favor a Republican candidate. If Democrats were able to flip the representation, it would leave only two Republicans in the state’s 29-member House delegation with redistricting looming after the 2010 Census.
My guess is that the main political implications here relate to redistricting. Even if a Republican wins the seat, a cloutless freshperson is going to be a very likely candidate for getting screwed-over in a redistricting process that’s likely to require New York to eliminate a congressional district.
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