"Now What Do We Do?"

That thread title is a line from the movie "The Candidate" starring Robert Redford, made back in the 1970's when challenging the establishment was all in vogue. Redford's character, Bill McKay, is the son of former Governor who runs for a Senate seat in CA that is considered hopeless against the incumbent. So he runs, on a lark, with the idea that he has nothing to lose and can therefore say whatever he wants on the campaign trail. The problem is, he unexpectedly wins.

At the end of the film, he turns to his advisers and asks in a bemused and flippant tone, "Well, now what do we do?".

Dick Morris speculates that the incoming President may have found himself in a similar situation (an idea that has been in the back of my mind for some time). He asks what Obama's cabinet choices, Hillary in particular, says about him:

I believe that it reveals that he is a man who never really expected to be president and now is rather awed by what he has achieved. Here's a guy who was on a very successful book tour in late 2006 before his success at signings went to his head. As long as he seemed able to draw and dazzle crowds, he figured, why not run for president? Knowing he'd probably lose, he saw no harm in trying. Then, as his candidacy developed more momentum with each speech, he moved closer and closer to the White House. But, on arrival, he doesn't know quite what to do with the power. So he is assembling around him the permanent government of the Democratic Party in the hopes that they will know what to do.

And he's in charge.

I really hope I'm wrong here, for the sake of the country. But, honestly, I'm not very confident and the future of a nation at war, in a rough economy, may very well depend more on the President' men than on the President himself.

Say a prayer.

YIPS! from Robbo: Overheard at Starbuck's this morning from a pair of older guys sitting in the corner: "Look at all these young, fresh, exuberant Obama people. They don't have a freakin' clue - it's gonna be nothing more than Clinton II, this time without the intern."