A Team of Rivals?

Have you noticed how many times, in the past week, you've heard references to Doris Kearns Goodwin's book about Abe Lincoln's cabinet? It all started when word got out that Obama is considering Hillary Clinton for the Secretary of State position (a brilliant political move, all other merits and demerits aside, and especially if she turns it down).

In no time, every commentator was talking about Goodwin's book. In his 60 Minutes interview, Obama even played along.

Now another Civil War historian, Matthew Pinsker, has written an op-ed piece in the LA Times which refutes Goodwin's thesis, concluding:

Lincoln's Cabinet was no team. His rivals proved to be uneven as subordinates. Some were capable despite their personal disloyalty, yet others were simply disastrous.

Lincoln was a political genius, but his model for Cabinet-building should stand more as a cautionary tale than as a leadership manual.

Goodwin's is an interesting idea, but I must say, when I first heard of her approach I thought, "Well, that's a different take on it!"

So far, it doesn't look like this Team of Rivals thing is really shaping up. Clinton hasn't decided to go for it, yet, and may decide to pass on the opportunity. In which case it looks like it could be Richardson, who maybe technically qualifies as a rival, but who endorsed Obama early enough in the race to hurt Hillary and be called Judas Iscariot by Doofis Bumpus.

Who else have we got so far? Daschle. Holder. Rahm Emanuel. Axelrod. Does Biden even count? No other rivals yet. And what other "rivals" are there? You don't think John Hagee is going to be offered a spot, do you? So maybe that Team of Rivals stuff is just one of those things that's fun for a few days, gets us almost interested enough to read the book, then goes away.