The Obama All-Stars

President-elect Barack Obama, from his temporary headquarters in Chicago, put his national security team on display Monday. Some are familiar faces, others are not. For those concerned that this isn't the kind of change Obama promised during the campaign, there is this: Unlike the people President George W. Bush hired for his Cabinet, there are no yes-men and women or party hacks here.

Attempting to follow in the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln, Obama has chosen the following. It'll be interesting to see if they all get along.

• Former campaign rival Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. She follows in the footsteps of Madeleine Albright and Condoleeza Rice in the highest rank a woman can obtain in government. And that is not a compliment.
• Robert Gates, who replaced Donald Rumsfeld as Bush's Secretary of Defense, continues in that role. He's also the only Republican in the bunch.
• Eric Holder as the first African-American attorney general.
• Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano as Homeland Security chief.
• Susan Rice (no relation to Condoleeza) as United Nations ambassador.
• James Jones, retired Marine general, as national security advisor.

The rollout had been planned long before the terrorist attack on Mumbai, India last week. That was where allegedly ten men went on a killing spree (174 dead), burned down a historic hotel, and shot up a local Jewish center. This just makes it all the more timely, with two of the United States' primary allies in the War on Terror--India and Pakistan--pointing fingers at each other, and not for the first time.

Assuming Senate confirmation, the new Obama team already has a lot on its plate domestically and internationally, even without the events in Mumbai. There's the matter of deemphasizing its military role in Iraq, while increasing its presence in Afghanistan. There's a recession, which the government finally admits has been going on for a year, and will be with us at least through 2009. And then there's the matter of undoing the damage Bush has wrought over the last eight years, trying to make nice with all the countries he and his underlings have offended in the name of keeping America safe. Good luck with all of that.

There are those who say that, with everything that's going on in the world, Obama should be taking the oath of office ASAP instead of waiting until January 20. For constitutional and practical reasons, this is currently not possible. Much as we'd like to wish President Bush a nice retirement back in Texas, Obama needs the time between the election and Inauguration Day to get his new administration and his family prepared for the next four years in the White House.

Besides, as the next leader of the Free World so eloquently put it, there can be only one president at a time.