Where will Tom Daschle go?
If Barack Obama is to be a successful Presidential candidate, and after that a successful President, he needs Tom Daschle. Quietly, the former Senate Majority leader is playing a small but significant role in the Obama campaign and has the advantages, the experiences, and the skills to be a key force in the coming years.
In retrospect, it isn’t surprising that Daschle could have been this influential. In the 1990s, the national Democratic Party was largely split between a Presidential orbit and a Congressional. While many major players - Rahm Emanuel, James Carville, Richard Holbrooke, to give a sense of the range of individuals being discussed - surrounded the Clinton White House, another set were associated with Congressional Leaders Tom Daschle and Dick Gephardt. Though some of the Clinton staffers worked for Obama in this primary campaign, they remained the exception rather than the rule. When Gephardt endorsed Clinton, Tom Daschle offered the largest stash of veteran top staffers and contacts for Obama to use.
The Obama campaign retained a distinctly Illinois flavor. David Axelord, the creative chief of the campaign, is a veteran Illinois politician working for everybody from the Daleys to Paul Simon. But a number of crucial figures in the campaign - Steve Hildebrand, communications director Dan Pfeiffer, amongst others - are former Daschle staffers.
Over the next months and years, there are three crucial tasks that Obama may require from Daschle. The first is to continue tapping his network - political and financial - for his campaign. That Daschle will answer affirmatively can be assumed. The second is to be a confirming figure. Barack Obama faces severe challenges, especially with older, white conservative voters. Though Daschle was a highly partisan figure while in the Senate, he remained quietly popular in South Dakota (despite his close defeat in 2004), and retains a moderate, even, soft image. He can add a certain depth to people’s perceptions of Obama that could be highly advantageous. Finally, he is a powerful force within Washington DC. If Obama should win the Presidency, Daschle would be invaluable for Congressional relations.
One of the interesting questions over the next few weeks and months is how will Obama avail himself of Daschle. Possibly the most likely of possibilities is that he will remain a counselor to the campaign and then the Administration, and perhaps simply make some appearences for Obama. Another possibility is for him to begin to focus on a particular set of policies and become perhaps a Cabinet Secretary-designate for Obama. Considering some of the scandals with his wife and lobbying, the former intelligence officer might be a useful gray head as Secretary of State or Defense. A relatively unlikely possibility is that he will shift staff-wards and become the White House Chief of Staff. While national politicians rarely become staffers, the only exception is White House Chief of Staff. Leon Panetta was a 9-term Congressman and the Chairman of the House Budget Committee when he became first director of the OMB, and then Chief of Staff for Bill Clinton. John Sununu was the 3 term governor of New Hampshire before becoming George Bush Sr.’s Chief of Staff, and Howard Baker had been the Senate Majority leader before holding the same position for Ronald Reagan. Daschle’s appointment would make the Obama White House staff feel almost loaded with experience and has the small possibility of assisting with Congressional relations, particularly the Democratic leadership. Finally, Tom Daschle could be Obama’s Vice Presidential candidate. The most significant reason to do so would be to raise dramatically Daschle’s profile in the Presidential campaign. Though Vice-Presidential nominations rarely matter, a number of Obama difficulties can be mitigated by the sense of an Obama-Daschle ticket (much like Kennedy-Johnson, or more accurately, Bush-Cheney).
Obama retains the flexibility to choose between these options but how successfully and efficiently he avails himself of assets he currently claims, including the loyalty of Tom Daschle, could be a significant factor in his future success or lack thereof.