There has been a recent wringing of hands by some in response to some of the selections that Barack Obama has made for his future administration.  Allow me a brief moment to respond with a perspective that some may not have considered.  If Obama had surrounded himself entirely with liberals and progressives, he would have breathed life into a dying Republican party. The GOP would be emboldened to fight and obstruct every piece of legislation, and they would attempt to paint Obama and Democrats as extremists and out of touch. We would end up with four more years of bickering in Washington with very little getting done.

In surrounding himself with very smart and open-minded people, people who are respected on both sides of the aisle, Obama is making it much more difficult for partisans and republicans to vilify him, his administration, and his policies. Rather than giving life to a modern day wannabe Newt Gingrich and losing the gains of Congress, Obama is laying the groundwork to not only increase those gains, but also strengthening the Democratic brand in the minds of the country. The obstructionists will soon show themselves to be the ones who are the extremists and out of touch, while Obama and the Democrats will solidify themselves as the party that gets things done.

Surely Obama understands that the country has moved to the left. But to bring the rest of the country along, he must do it in a moderate fashion. Remember, when a pendulum swings from the right, it must pass through the middle before it gets to the left.

If you had to describe the Bush administration in one word, few would be more apt than the word incompetent.  From the historic foreign policies blunders of Iraq and Afghanistan to the tragic do-nothing domestic policies of Katrina, 9/11, and managing the economy.  

Not only have the policies been incompetent, but those with positions of responsibility in this administration have been incompetent.  Bush, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, Chertoff, Miers, "Brownie", Cheney, Libby, Rice, Bolton, Goodling and many more.  These individuals were not the best and brightest of what this country has to offer, rather they are party loyalists who share a similar disdain and disrespect for the positive role that government can have in people's lives.

A familiar theme from Barack Obama on the campaign trail was that government can't solve every problem, but at the very least, it should do no harm.  With all of the serious challenges that we face as a nation, Obama seems convinced that surrounding himself with very smart people is more important than where a person leans politically.  

Instead of selecting partisans and rewarding political hacks with cushy positions where they have no business being, Obama is selecting open-minded and qualified individuals who are well-respected throughout Washington and abroad.  

Are Obama's selections the progressive all-star team that some of us might have preferred? No, obviously not.  Still, few can say that his appointments are incompetents or partisan hacks or ideological die-hards.  Many in this country have lost confidence in our government, in our economy, and in our institutions.  It seems to me that Obama is attempting to provide a sense of confidence in the team that he is assembling, to give assurances to all that he intends to provide responsible government.