As Obama takes a page from Abraham Lincoln and mulls which token Republican to insert in his Cabinet, he has few Senatorial choices based on the criteria I believe he should consider. Some of the tactics will hurt our Republican cause even more but are realistic strategies that Obama is most likely pondering when narrowing down candidates.

1. This person should be a Republican in the sunset of his/her career, who would not need to seek a new government position at the end of Obama’s four year (God willing) administration. If said Senator comes from a very red state, he might not be able to re-gain a seat as a Republican in the Senate after serving an Obama administration, especially if conservatives are as dead-set against Obama in 2012 as in 2008.

2. This person should be a very conservative Republican to shock the systems of those of us who are rolling our eyes at and scoffing at the notion of a bi-partisan Obama cabinet. Choosing an Olympia Snowe or Chuck Hagel would certainly not be impressive or startling.

3. This person should NOT be John McCain. Please do not put your bootheel on our throats while we are down. We’ve been beaten down enough and can’t take any more after what we endured in this election. Selecting McCain would be insult piled on top of injury.

4. This person, to most effectively wound our Republican caucus, should be a well-respected and commanding vote-mover in the Senate. Snatching such a person would have the added benefit for Obama of not only marshalling the gravitas and persuasive power of that person for himself, but also depriving the Senate Republicans of a mover and shaker when it comes to key votes so that state’s Governor must replace him with a less experienced person.

5. This person should be from an on-fire red state that Obama did not win in 2008 so that when he is up for re-election, he has a better chance of switching another red state to blue by virtue of demonstrating that if a conservative Republican Senator can work in concert with a Democrat president, then surely there should be no hesitation in voting for a Democrat as supposedly bi-partisan as Obama.

6. This person ought to be chosen for a typically conservative-issue Cabinet spot. For instance, selecting a true hawk for Secretary of Defense would truly demonstrate bi-partisanship, instead of choosing a weak, linguine-spined, fence-straddling RINO who will be a yes-man to Obama instead of challenging him and his intellectual honesty.

I most certainly do not offer these thoughts as an assist to Barack Obama, but as the opposition, we should be one step ahead!