Move Over, Harry Reid

One thing President-elect Obama is going to have to do, and do so with tact, is find a way to not only appeal to conservatives who did or did not support him, but also pull the left fringe of the party toward the middle. Case in point - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. His take on Secretary of Defense Gates (from Andrew Sullivan):

I am confident that Senator Obama has somebody in mind for secretary of defense but Gates -- you know, it's interesting, my conversation with Secretary Gates, he's not even a Republican. Why wouldn't we want to keep him? He's never been a registered Republican.

Yeah. That's why Obama should keep Secretary Gates. That type of partisan thinking is not what this country needs, and the justification itself is asinine.

There are many reasons to justify keeping Secretary Gates as Secretary of Defense. For example - he's already in the position during a transition period of government during two wars. Having some consistency at the policymaking level is a very good thing. Additionally, Secretary Gates is rather competent at his position. There are more, to be sure, but those in and of themselves are more than reason enough to justify keeping him in the position.

There is no need to play the political card on this. It's petty and divisive, and we need leadership that is calm and reasoned. President-elect Obama would find little difficulty in keeping Secretary Gates, but if he does so, let's hope it's for a real reason, and not some cockamamie partisan tommyrot.