The most important story in basketball this NBA offseason is the signing of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh by the Miami Heat. The most common criticism by basketball pundits of the signings (outside of the “The Decision” television special on ESPN to announce Lebron was joining the Heat) is the idea that these players took the "if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em" approach to winning an NBA Championship. How can these players essentially “chicken out” to form a super team? Why couldn’t they just win on their own? As Bill Simmons stated, it would be more fun if each superstar had his own posse and to continue to have shootouts at basketball’s version of the OK Corral.
A month later, George Packer’s article in The New Yorker about how dysfunctional the U.S. Senate had become over the past 1.5 years (and many would argue longer) spurred an entirely different debate. Democrats and Republicans seemingly cannot agree on anything. For example, Tennessee Senator Bob Corker voted for an amendment to the recently passed financial regulatory reform bill that would negate the part of the bill that he himself originally helped author (with Senator Mark Warner) on the creation of a fund that would help wind down large financial institutions. I mean, how can you vote against something you helped write? It doesn’t make any sense. Political pundits have assailed both parties for the damage caused to Americans on numerous issues because of this dysfunction.
So in sports you get blamed for forming a super team. In politics you get blamed for not forming any teams. Which is the better approach? Obviously, different situations call for different tactics, but one can’t help but think that the super team approach could actually work better in politics than in the NBA. While creating a “super team” would be difficult in Congress for a variety of reasons (I don’t have enough room in this post to describe them), what if President Obama formed a super team for his 2012 election? People have often stated that President Obama selecting Hillary Clinton to be his Secretary of State was the reincarnation of the Team of Rivals seen in President Lincoln's cabinet. However, Obama and Clinton were, in theory, on the same team as they were both Democrats.
What if President Obama were to follow LeBron James and Chris Bosh and form a super team with more of his Republican “friends”? What would this team look like? I could imagine a team with Governor Haley Barbour as the Vice President and with current Vice President Joe Biden agreeing to take a step down (or reduce his minutes, using NBA jargon) to Secretary of State . Mitt Romney could replace Timothy Geithner as Secretary of the Treasury and Tim Pawlenty could replace Tom Vilsack as the Secretary of Agriculture.
Clearly, this scenario is extremely unlikely for a number reasons (one being that Secretary Clinton is not going to just step aside and let Vice President Biden take over), but could more substantial legislation be passed in Washington with this super team? Would the political pundits go as bananas as the sports commentators? It’s hard to say, but it is sure fun to think about the possibilities of what could happen.
All interesting hypothetical parallels between sports and politics. However, I would make two distinctions between the actual Miami Heat and the proposed Obama administration.
ReplyDeleteFirst, whereas LeBron, Wade, and Bosh don't need the rest of the NBA to cooperate to let them roll to a title, Obama's bipartisan cabinet would not be solely responsible for its win-and-loss record. That is, a presidential administration obviously can't score major victories without the help of that other important team - Congress. And until we can work out that pesky problem of creating a Congressional super team, which this post does not even want to tackle for obvious reasons, the administration would continue running in neutral. I would argue that most of the perceived failures of the Obama administration (a toothless financial regulatory reform bill, being at the top of that list) most likely wouldn't be solved by placing Romney, or any Republican, in Geitner's chair. It's going to take TWO super teams to make anything work in Washington.
Second, no balanced bipartisan super team would be able to make up for the major PR blunders (sluggish reaction to the Gulf oil crisis, Michelle's recent holiday in Spain) this White House has committed. In short, all the Heat have to do is win ON the court. No matter how many ESPN specials LeBron gets burned for, his on-the-job performance is all that really matters when it comes to winning an NBA title. Unfortunately, Obama doesn't enjoy this same luxury. Image is everything, moreso in politics than sports.
All great points the post makes about a potential White House super team. My only concern would be Biden starting World War III as Secretary of State.