Thursday, January 8, 2009

Just a quick comment on this post by Josh Marshall. It does seem as if Obama is ceding the initiative to Congress now, you can't really deny that fact. But as Josh himself alludes to in the post, there isn't an actual Obama presidency yet and hence no actual pulpit to bully from. For all the talk about Bush being a non-entity the simple fact of the matter is that he is still the democratically elected leader of this country for another 12 days.

Like Josh mentions, there's very little real power that Obama has right now. So, when does Obama get some real Power to play with? January 20 - to be more specific, the second he finishes his inaugural address. And here's where I think the ballgame is. If there has ever been a need to truly unleash the rhetorical big guns, this is it. Because of Obama's vulnerability (exposed by both Clinton and McCain during the campaigns) to the "all style no substance" charge, his oratory was largely put on the shelf. Jan. 20 is going to be the day that we see the full force of that oratory put on display. There is absolutely no reason on earth why Obama shouldn't unleash an inaugural address for the ages, a stirring call to arms that moves and inspires, sweeping all and sundry before it like an electoral tidal wave. Having done so, he'll find himself with an instant mandate for the stimulus package. All of this pre-inaugural posturing will be washed away and we will no longer be talking about mid-February. The stampede will be on to get behind Obama and his agenda.

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