been a “final exam” for McCain and Obama, in Powell’s view.
Obama emerged as his choice because “he has both style and
substance.” The former Bush secretary of state said he
thought the new president should address both the American
people and the world at large to describe how his policies will
be different from those of the past eight years. One of the
most pressing challenges the new president will face, Powell
said, is “to fix the reputation we’ve left with the rest of the
world.”
In the run-up to the election, historian Doris Kearns Good-
win noted that an even temperament characterized many of
our best presidents. No matter what crisis Lincoln and FDR
faced, they dealt with it in a calm, deliberative way. And great
leaders are often able to rise above personal disappointments
and hurts, even tragedies. Lincoln’s political genius included
his ability to assemble a brain trust of his former political
opponents into a brilliant “team of rivals.” “You can’t let
resentments poison you,” Goodwin said.
It is clear that the new president will have to restore not just
the broken economy, but the confidence of the nation. He will
have to give the country its optimism back. The very fact of his
election is a giant first step in that process. As Colin Powell
predicted, Obama’s election was a matter of pride not just for
African Americans, but for all Americans. My guess is that
Obama will conduct his new presidency with Lincoln, FDR
and John F. Kennedy in mind (we know he read Doris Kearns
Goodwin’s Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lin-
colnduring the campaign). There is a time-tested pattern for
inspiring American citizens. Our greatest leaders have re-
minded us that we are all in this together, and that we will have
to make hard choices, even sacrifices.
Epilogue to the Twentieth-Anniversary Edition