Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama Will Play Nice

Throughout the Democratic primary, and the convention, and even now that Barack Obama has tapped Hillary Clinton to be his Secretary of State, questions have been raised as to whether these former rivals would be able to work together.

Hillary's most devoted supporters said all along that she would never accept a VP nod, then a cabinet post, because that evil Obama just wanted to keep her under his thumb.

Conversely, a lot of Obama supporters feel that the President-Elect would be unable to count on Hillary's loyalty, or that she would work to undercut him.

The reality is, these two are consummate professionals, with a common purpose:

Advancing a far-left agenda, and crushing dissent.

Just kidding. As I have said before, the perceived fracture between them is overblown, just as it was even between Obama and John McCain. Remember McCain's concession speech? That was the difference between how things are, and how we, the audience, see them.

Political campaigns are a stage, and in order to get the audience to notice changes in the actors' emotions, they have to make grotesquely exaggerated facial expressions. Kind of like in the old silent movies that McCain remembers so well. (Kidding.) They also have to talk real loud, so the people in the back can hear.

But when the play is over, the actors don't scream and grimace at each other backstage. Sure, everybody wants a bigger part, but they really just want to put on a good show.

The perceptions about their relationship, though, might be helpful. The idea that the Secretary of State is more than an appendage of the President might come in handy, diplomatically. The fact that Hillary is tough and independent will serve her well, too.

The "Team of Rivals" idea has become a tired cliché in just a few short weeks, but nowhere is it more useful than in foreign policy, where "groupthink" has led to perilously bad decisions these past 8 years.

In fact, it is my hope that the adversity of the campaign can act as a bridge in the new administration. Maybe Obama can break Hillary's chops by telling her to watch for snipers on the way in to Marine One. And maybe Hillary can bust Obama's spheres by calling him at 3 am every morning and saying, "Just checking."

Even McCain could get in on the act, wandering into the White House and saying, "Oops! I thought this was one of mine."

Read Mark Impomeni's argument that Clinton will be a shadow president.

Vote for who you think made a better argument.

Tommy Christopher co-hosts "Unusable Signal" , on BlogTalkRadio Tues - Thur at 10pm, and Fri, & Sat at 11pm. Click here for the Unusable Signal homepage.