Remember how little drama came from the Obama campaign?

At the end of a week when the Governor of Alaska, a.k.a. the Wordsmith of Wasilla, has given more interviews than she did during her two months as the Vice Presidential nominee, the buzz from Washington was the leak, confirmed by the Obama transition team, that Senator Clinton suddenly had a bona fide career choice if she wanted to become part of the Obama administration as Secretary of State. Even here in Minnesota, where you might think all we’re talking about is the looming Franken~Coleman recount, some agree choice “would go a long way toward healing any remaining divisions” that her divisive primary campaign created or exacerbated.  Others are aghast at the notion that one of his fiercest opponents over the past year might be trusted with such a high profile assignment.

Now perhaps the reason that the formerly tight-lipped Obama team let this out has more to do with the arrival of additional players than it does with any deliberate strategy on the part of a group that was notorious throughout the campaign for nearly flawless control of the information release, but I think it highlights Obama’s wisdom in that regard.  I recall vividly the week in Denver when so many conversations were filled with swirling speculation about the Obama cabinet decisions, and what role such luminaries as Senator Clinton might play for the balance of the campaign and after the (hoped for) Democratic return to the Oval Office.  Further, if Senator Clinton was intent on securing a role within the White House, she might have worded her message on June 3rd differently.  You may make of her actions what you will, I’m not trying to forecast her career any more than I am Obama’s cabinet selections.

I bring my own perspective to any decision, just as Obama brings his. He didn’t consult me before picking Rahm Emanuel, nor did I expect to be able to predict his choice.  Pundits and other media personalities are doing their utmost to predict – for some it’s nearly their entire stock in trade until they have something more to decry. The speculation, however, is mostly idle parlor chatter – I can get that from virtually anybody I meet; I don’t need (or want) the guesses of people who couldn’t even forecast McCain’s VP choice.  My time is better spent engaged with reality than watching TV. I’ll know soon enough.

Obama told parents they needed to turn the TVs off on behalf of their children. Quite unspoken was the fact that the effect is they’d be watching less themselves as part of the bargain. We’ve elected one of the savviest politicians on the planet to take on one of the toughest jobs at one of the most challenging moments.  I, for one, am proceeding under the assumption that he’s not only wiser and better informed than I am about the choices he faces, but thus far making fewer mistakes than I would have under the same conditions.

Politics is the art of the possible, and Obama is arguably the foremost practitioner of the art currently working in the field. He has extended an olive branch, in a hugely public and flattering way. The Clintons are a force to be reckoned with, no doubt, but despite their recent (and now somewhat diminished) influence within the DNC, the junior Senator from New York has not been treated much differently from any other “new” Senator when it comes to handing out committee assignments, etc.

I’m a student of this entire process; I strive to be a keen observer.  Rather than an open letter to Obama full of my pretentious forecasts and suggestions, I have one for the rest of you.  Leave the speculation to somebody with a crystal ball: live in the present, and enjoy the way the Obama administration takes shape.

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