Folks, all who know Obama say one thing about how he will govern:

[GarbagemanLB]

He is a ruthless pragmatist. He is not an ideologue. He appreciates intelligence and excellence, and expects it from those he surrounds himself with.

With his cabinet, he will be deliberate and place the person he thinks most capable in each position. Yes, this just might mean a person like Summers. Issue #1 is the economy, and if the Obama administration gets this wrong, you can kiss goodbye any hope of a future progressive majority in the electorate.


I suspect there will be a number of people on this board who will soon be disappointed with Obama for basically not going hard left from the get-go (with some of his cabinet picks)....but those people missed who Obama is and what he is about. Obama is, I believe, more progressive (probably MUCH more) than Bill Clinton. However, he is deliberative, enjoys consensus-building, and has an amazing foresight and sense of politics. I believe the Obama administration will be a smarter, tougher, and more adept version of the first Clinton white house. He will be progressive-oriented, but also be centrist in the sense that he will listen and discuss the issues with the other side. He will not be an idealogue, and I get the sense, frankly, that a certain population on here and on the left simply wants him to be a liberal George W. Bush.

For this nation to continue to move to the left, it must be gently steered in that direction. We can talk all we want about the AA turn-out, the latino turn-out, and the youth turn-out, but a major reason Obama is president-elect today is because of white moderates and how he made inroads with that demographic. I trust in Obama's ability to communicate and speak to the middle of the country, and persuade them to get behind his future proposals (on issues ranging from healthcare to energy)...but building a true progressive majority will take time and above all a keen sense of politics (please note that when I say that, I don't mean looking at the polls before making each decision, but just generally being aware of what the country is ready and not ready for).

Like Obama said, this election is the CHANCE at change, not the change itself.