ISSUE IN-DEPTH: PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: Obama aces big test: Now for a bigger one

Barack Obama is not a man easily ruffled. In the first presidential debate, though, he became noticeably annoyed when John McCain accused him of not knowing the difference between long-term strategy and short-term tactics.

“I absolutely understand the difference between tactics and strategy,” Obama insisted, and over the next six weeks he proved it, much to McCain’s displeasure.

From the beginning, Obama had a carefully honed strategy for winning the presidency and he stuck to that plan. He and his staff displayed enormous discipline, refusing to be distracted from pursuit of their larger goals by the daily, tactical give and take of a campaign. In the end it paid off.

Of course, right about now Obama might be wondering what exactly he’s won. A satirical headline in the Onion last week captured the situation perfectly:

“Black man given nation’s worst job.”

The truth is, no president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt has taken office in a more difficult time. Critically important issues that we’ve put off for far too long —- health care, global warming, Medicare financing, the national debt, energy —- demand to be addressed, but instead they’ll be put off once again to deal with the even more pressing and immediate issue of the economy. Overseas, the twin wars of Iraq and Afghanistan will also require that important decisions be made as soon as Obama takes office.

Working through this mess will require the same sense of discipline, vision and commitment to long-term strategy that Obama and his staff displayed in the campaign.

The most important priority at the moment is to put the right people in the right place, and for proof you need only look at the current White House. The Bush administration might not be leaving office in such disrepute if someone other than Donald Rumsfeld had been named secretary of defense and if Michael Brown hadn’t been given responsibility for emergency management.

Obama’s first personnel decision, naming U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff, is both smart and a little dangerous, a description you could also apply to Emanuel himself. Obama knows Emanuel and trusts him, and nobody ever questioned Emanuel’s intelligence or work ethic. But he also has a reputation for doing whatever it takes to achieve what he wants, which can be trouble in a job as powerful as chief of staff.

Typically in transitions, names are leaked for publicity or symbolic reasons —- rumors of Colin Powell being offered a Cabinet post and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. being named to head the Environmental Protection Agency probably fit into that category. Kennedy has been very effective as an environmental activist, but the EPA doesn’t need an activist as its administrator, and Obama knows it.

On the other hand, the suggestion that Obama keep Robert Gates as secretary of defense deserves serious consideration. Gates has done an excellent job for the American people in trying to repair the damage done to U.S. policy and to the U.S. military under Rumsfeld, and that experience at unwinding the mistakes of others could be invaluable for President Obama.

As Gates knows better than anyone, events beyond U.S. control in both Iraq and Afghanistan already seem to be pushing us toward the exits and narrowing our options. Our allies in Afghanistan are losing interest in the fight after seven years, and Afghan government officials have initiated talks with parts of the Taliban in hopes of a negotiated settlement. That approach has been endorsed by Gen. David Petraeus among others.

In Iraq, the Baghdad government seems more and more eager to usher U.S. forces out of Iraqi territory as quickly as possible. U.S. officials warn that Iraqi forces won’t be ready on the timetable their government seems to be pushing, but in the end that’s not our decision. The authority —- and the responsibility —- sit with the Iraqis.

On the economy, Obama and congressional Democrats are reportedly consulting with the administration on passage of an interim stimulus bill that President Bush could sign as quickly as possible in hopes of easing the recession, with additional action once Obama takes office.

It’s important that such a bill pass, but it is also important that it remain as narrowly tailored as possible to its purpose and not become an earmark vessel. Obama has shown the ability and willingness to discipline himself and his staff, but the test of his presidency will be his ability to discipline Congress as well.

President Bush refused to do so, allowing congressional Republicans free rein as they raided the national Treasury. For political reasons and policy reasons, Obama can’t allow himself to make that same mistake.

—- Jay Bookman, for the editorial board (jbookman@ajc.com).

 ELIZABETH LANDT / Staff
U.S. MILITARY DEATHS
Graph tracks the number of deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq, monthly, from January through October 2008.

January
Iraq: 40
Afghanistan: 7
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October
Iraq: 14
Afghanistan 16
Source: Department of Defense; research by NISA ASOKAN / Staff

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ELIZABETH LANDT / Staff
DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE

Graph tracks the Dow from May to November 7, 2008.
Friday's close: 8,943.81, up 248.02

Source: Bloomberg News