It seems to me that Obama makes political moves with the primary intent to ensure passage of his agenda, rather than political moves to ensure the concentration of power that may or may not be used to see through passage of an agenda. Obama technique is focused on coalition building (just like an effective community organizer would do) rather than on coercion and intimidation. Obama is not naive about power in my opinion, but he knows, just like Bush found out, presidential power is ultimately tied to the public sentiment, and that is dependent on whether he is effective in making positive changes in this country. I wonder how Tom Delay is doing these days.

Also, as Harold Meyerson points out, Waxman is perhaps the House's leading legislator on three key issues prioritized by Obama: Universal health care, global warming, and the need for strengthened consumer protections.

Here's another amazing piece of Obama Team brilliance, based on a comment yesterday by Lux Umbra Dei (in a blog post on Orszag being promoted to OMB Director). Not only does Orzag have a strong interest in health care, but also in energy via Global Action on Climate Change:

Orszag's interest in climate change: See Climate Change: An Agenda for Global Collective Action (with Stiglitz and Aldy as co-authors!)

http://www.pewclimate.org/docUploads/stiglitz.pdf

I marvel at how this is coming together!

Now we know where Harry Reid's balls went.... Nancy Pelosi has them.

I smell a big pile of dookie. Some of you must be sitting around f**t f**king each other over some imaginary rose coloured, pie in the sky, heavenly descent of a half and half saviour.

What I see is just another politician. This one has the look of "Holy sh*t, I actually won. What the hell do I do now?" "Well, I could surround myself with new faces and new ideas like I campaigned for and really change the face of DC...but then we would all be new at this together and everyone would look to me for guidance. Okay, scratch that bullsh*t, this brotha ain't taking no heat. Hmmm, maybe I'll surround myself with the epitome of Washington since these guys know the ropes, have the connections, and actually, kinda, know what they're doing without being led around by the nose. And, hey, if things go south...they can serve as my political flak jacket!"

I don't doubt that this administration can get things done and get them done quickly, assuming the cabinet can put their egos aside and their own personal agendas. I mean the cards are stacked in their favor. I would be rediculous to think that they couldn't get a multitude of things accomplished. But there are no new ideas here and there certainly aren't many new faces other than the freshman turned coach.

It's just that it's been a while since some of these ideas have had a chance to breathe so some of you...umm...people, get all steamy crotched over nothing. Just like EVERY other campaign, grand ideas "evolve" into something unrecognizeable, promises are broken, forgotten, or otherwise ignored. And we settle in for another four or eight years.

If we are all lucky, the pendulum will swing back just left of center to compensate for "some" far right policies. A swing to the far left will simply be a miserable mirror image of where we're at now and will pay the price as well.

Regardless of your expectations, remember...Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."

I was worried back in the spring if Obama had the steel for the job. He has it in spades. I was also worried about his lack of time in office. Wrong. I should have known that anyone who came up in politics from Chicago's South Side would be a natural.

Obama continues to amaze me every day with his picks and his moves. He may just be a political savant.