So far, so good on Obama transition

[babylonsister]

So far, so good on Obama transition

ANN MCFEATTERS
SYNDICATED COLUMNIST


WASHINGTON -- So, folks, how is he doing?

With every day bringing more bad financial news, with job loss now an equal opportunity experience, with paying the mortgage each month a major hassle, we can at least be glad Barack Obama is said to be ahead of any previous president-elect in putting together his team.

For sure, there are a lot of retreads from the Clinton years. And with the exception of keeping defense chief Robert Gates, there aren't a lot of Republican crossovers. At least not yet. True bipartisanship remains a vision, not a fait accompli.

When Obama holds press conferences, the markets gyrate down and up and down and up and down.

We still don't know what his exact plans for economic recovery or stimulus spending on infrastructure are. We have more questions than answers about where all the money is going to come from other than from government printing presses. We want to know how the flattening of the tires on our economic wheels will be re-inflated.

But there is steadiness and calm resolve when Obama speaks that are reassuring. He says he has the vision that will lead the country back to the new normalcy, whatever that will be. He pledges to hit the ground running on Jan. 20, which seems a scary long way away. But at least there is no more talk of President Bush getting us into another war, say, with Iran.

Obama's picks have been encouraging. For the most part, they have been men and women with experience but with the fresh perspective of having been away from Washington for a while. Their job is not to provide vision -- Obama says that's his prerogative -- but to spar with each other, think up new ways to come at old problems and carry out the policies they formulate together.

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