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11/11/2008
Burri: No lame duck status for Doyle...
Everybody knows what a “lame duck” is, right? A politician on his way out; just marking time until his successor takes over. He has legal power, but no leverage. No carrots, no sticks.
President Bush has been a lame duck since the 2006 mid-terms – a situation made worse by his miserable poll numbers. Governor Doyle would be a lame duck – or something very like it – if he said publicly that yes, he’d love to have a place in President-elect Barack Obama’s Cabinet.
That’s one reason he doesn’t say that. Instead, he says things like:
"I don't expect I'm going to have any such call," Doyle said Tuesday. "I know this, I'm not trying to get a position, I'm not angling for it, I don't want it." The “call,” of course, is the one from President-elect Obama, offering Doyle a Cabinet position. So far, Doyle’s stuck closely to that statement. Naturally, he would do so.
To do otherwise would, first of all, be a terrible faux pas. One does not put the shiny new Democrat administration on the spot by publicly lobbying for a post. To do so, and then fail to get it – especially when the petitioner in question is a successful two-term Democrat governor who supported the President-elect from the very first – makes the administration look bad.
It doesn’t do much for Doyle’s stock, either.
No, a “scandal” like that wouldn’t last long. A week, maybe, unless somebody’s willing to spill some extra dirt, which they probably wouldn’t. So. Pretty meaningless, really.
Still, it would be an unneeded distraction. An awkwardness, better avoided.
More than that, though: publicly gunning for a job in D.C. makes Doyle a lame duck back home. What can he promise anyone? How can he threaten anyone? When he doesn’t want to stick around long enough to carry out either promise or threat?
And then, if he lobbies for but doesn’t get the post, he’s supposed to run for re-election two years from now?
Obama won! I’m outta here! Oh, no, wait…I wanna stay!
I’m not saying Doyle does want a Cabinet post. I’m not saying he doesn’t. I’m saying: we can’t possibly tell what he’s thinking by listening to what he’s saying.
If nothing else, Doyle is a consummate politician. He’s smart. He’s clever. He knows how to bury the knife while kissing your cheek.
In other words, he knows better than to burn bridges. He hasn’t ruled out leaving Wisconsin, and he hasn’t ruled out staying. And if he’s got a preference, he isn’t letting on.
The real question is: what’s better for Doyle and his career? Staying, and dealing with a $3 billion (or whatever it is) deficit? Or leaving all that to Governor Lawton, and going to see whether Obama’s deification might rub off a little?
A Cabinet post leads to lucrative private sector jobs, regardless of political affiliation. It could also lead to a Senate run, should one of Wisconsin’s two U.S. Senators call it quits. So leaving would hardly the end of Doyle’s career, should he prefer that it not be.
Of course, it may be that Doyle wants to stay governor, simply because he wants to stay governor. It’s an important, powerful job, and while I dislike and disagree with many (or most) of his decisions, there’s little argument that he’s been successful thus far.
But we don’t know, and pointing to his public statements on the matter won’t clear it up any more than flipping coins.
That Doyle says he doesn’t want the call doesn’t mean he doesn’t want the call. It means he’s playing the game.
Lance Burri is a contributor to the Badger Blog Alliance and occasionally blogs at his own site as well.
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