the buzz log

Forget about the bridge to nowhere. President-elect Barack Obama is building bridges to everywhere. From the democratic rivals he bested, to his vanquished Republican competitor, John McCain, to the Clinton administration, which Obama often critiqued during the campaign. What gives?

Apparently, the President-elect is channeling Abraham Lincoln, who showed political savvy by appointing his enemies to his cabinet. The idea is behind the Doris Kearns Goodwin book, "Team of Rivals." Obama is well on this path, starting with his VP pick, Sen. Joe Biden, whose failed bid for the presidency started out with an infamous gaffe about — wait for it — Barack Obama.

Now Obama acknowledges that he met with rival Hillary Clinton to seek her "advice and counsel," and called the former democratic presidential candidate "one of the most thoughtful public officials that we have."

Say, what? If you cast your mind back to the democratic presidential primaries, you'll remember that the name calling was a little less chummy. Clinton and her 18 million votes gave Obama the run of his life. And he may return the favor with the plum cabinet post in an Obama administration. What's next, McCain as Sec. of Defense?

To Obama, this all makes perfect sense. He explained, "Lincoln basically pulled in all the people who had been running against him into his Cabinet because whatever personal feelings there were, the issue was: How can we get this country through this time of crisis?"

Something tells us Hillary knows about holding her frenemies close. After all, as columnist Maureen Dowd observed, Hillary's husband, Bill Clinton, may be her biggest hurdle to gaining the role of secretary of state.

Maybe Obama and Hillary Clinton have more in common than we thought.