Patience

Thanks to a valued reader for this link to Mark Schmitt's smart-smart (as usual) analysis of the two most vocal sides on how Obama should open his administration in order to take best advantage of political capital, and then presenting his own opinion, drawn from FDR and Reagan as well as how Obama conducted his campaign, "The Audacity of Patience":

Given that Obama's expanding coalition was sustainable through the long journey from Iowa to Election Day, what if we assume it could be sustained and even consolidated in the White House? Rooted in the center-left, but reaching Blue Dog Democrats, independent voters, and a few Republican legislators, it would not always be the same coalition, but like Reagan's, an evolving, overlapping, flexible majority. Reagan brought in very conservative Southern Democrats to pass the first budget cuts but found common ground with liberal and moderate Democrats on the tax reform of 1986 and with each step strengthened the conservative consensus. Obama could do the same for a new liberal consensus.

I highly recommend reading the whole piece, as I think it's so much closer to Obama's temperament than anything you're seeing, hearing, reading anywhere else. And it's not too long.

Speaking of not too long, we're six weeks away from Inauguration, and take a look how it's coming along.