Shortly after Barack Obama's election, upon reflecting on what constitutes the Obama style, affording a clue as to how he would govern as president, I recalled a statement from historian Theodore H. White about Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

White wrote that what made Kennedy a remarkable talent was not only his own intelligence but in the way that he "used the intelligence of others."  This prompted reflection on stellar chief executives with an appreciable quality of using the talents of others, such as Roosevelt implementing the talents of the likes of Hopkins, Morgenthau, Knox and Ickes.

The fact that Obama was surrounded by acute political intelligence is manifested by the fact that, based on numerous laudatory comments from historians and current media chieftains, his recently concluded campaign was one of the best run in the nation's history.

Obama, in deploying a national team, did more than increase chances of securing a higher number of electoral votes, including states in which the Democratic Party had not been competitive in years.  By putting a national team on the field future riches have been potentially enhanced.