GOP Picks for Obama's 'Team of Rivals'

Barack Obama talks a good game about bipartisanship. But now that he’s staffing up, it’s time to see if he walks the walk. The Wall Street Journal runs through some potential GOP appointees:

• Jim Leach. This former Iowa congressman was chosen to help represent the president-elect at the G-20. He’s a veteran of the foreign service, and sounded early warnings about the unregulated financial system.

• Chuck Hagel. The outgoing Nebraska senator pointedly didn’t endorse former ally John McCain. A Vietnam vet, he’s moved far from his party on foreign policy and national security.
• Richard Lugar. The senior Indiana Republican has served with Obama on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and is known to like him and be eager to cooperate.
• Mike Bloomberg. Well, not a Republican anymore, but as a widely admired and competent manager, Mayor Mike embodies many of the post-partisan values Obama likes to talk about.

(More Barack Obama stories.)