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4:30 p.m. ET: So how many people are actually descending on our fair city for Inauguration Day? The latest estimate from event organizers is between 1 and 2 million people, an enormous number but certainly a lot less than some of the original wild guesses suggesting the total might be double that.
Have some potential visitors been scared off by some of the predictions of traffic jams, closures, vise-like security, locusts and assorted other calamities? The Rundown is scared by all that, and he lives here. Nevertheless, huge crowds are still expected and so various guides for visitors are proliferating. There are party guides, restaurant guides, museum guides, even protest guides (looks like there won't be many). Half the political press corps appears to have turned into temporary travel writers.
And here's a guide to all the people who will be joining Barack Obama on that fancy train ride from Philadelphia to Washington. Are they sure they really want to come? We hear it's going to be really crowded.
8 a.m. ET: Barack Obama has been in Washington as president-elect for only a few days, but the ways of the city appear to have already seeped into his bloodstream as he embraces an old capital standby: When you're faced with a seemingly intractable problem, convene a summit, appoint a commission or create a "team" with a fancy-sounding name.
Obama pledged to do just that Thursday in a pair of big-media interviews. Here at the Post (where employees gawked but did not cheer), Obama vowed to hold a "fiscal accountability summit," which would include discussion of entitlement reform and ballooning budget deficits. In a sit-down with USA Today, Obama emphasized his plan to appoint a special team to conduct a diplomatic offensive in the Middle East.
The fiscal summit, in particular, doesn't sound all that different from the classic presidential move -- appointing a blue-ribbon commission. Obama's next step will be to learn how to shine the special signal from the roof of the White House, and then John Danforth and Lee Hamilton will appear. (Obama did have dinner with Hamilton last week.) But more seriously, it makes perfect sense for Obama to set the loftiest and most difficult goals now, when nearly anything seems possible and reality has yet to intrude. So why not speak of fixing Medicare and bringing peace to the Middle East in the same day? Perhaps Obama is saving his drive to cure cancer as an exclusive for whenever he sits down with the New York Times.
Actually, Obama probably doesn't need to define any more difficult tasks right now, given what he already has on his plate. The Senate voted yesterday to let the incoming president have the second half of the $700 billion financial bailout, though figuring out how to spend it presents policy and political dilemmas that are difficult to solve. How much for housing? How much for big banks and how much for individual consumers? And how will the public react, given that the Bush administration's treatment of the first half of the bailout hasn't been very popular?
Obama's stimulus proposal seems to be a bit more popular right now, but the jury is out until Congress finishes playing with the measure. House Democrats yesterday unveiled a measure that featured more spending and less tax cuts than Obama originally proposed; listen closely, and you can hear the chances that the measure will attract significant Republican support slipping away.
The guy who's actually president for a few more days gave his farewell address last night, during which he admitted he could have done a few things "differently" but generally praised himself for his willingness to make tough decisions. What will Obama say when he makes a similar address four or eight years from now? Will he speak of his success in fixing entitlement programs and fostering Middle East peace? Perhaps Obama could start work on the speech now. Or at least appoint a commission.
By
Ben Pershing
|
January 16, 2009; 8:00 AM ET
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Posted by: ToniBranca | January 16, 2009 10:21 AM
Your web site is terrible. Cannot access any of the opinion articles. What is the problem?
Posted by: Rayger2 | January 16, 2009 10:28 AM
I think Mr. Pershings "sarcasm" would be better called frustration. It also illustrates the majority attitude about how politics is seen today. I would argue this election, with the wealth of information out there for everyone to digest, represents the other half of our country coming out of the dark ages to see how our country actually is governed. Naturally there is outrage or frustration of politics as viewed from the outside. The fact still remains, however unsatisfied Mr. Pershing and the rest of the 'nubies' (me included) are with age old blue ribbon commissions and summits, they work! You do not build and sustain the most powerful country on earth by accident. There is a proven method layed out in the constitutions and in the historical doings of government past. So I guess the real message we need right now is not one of 'change we can believe in'. It is for Mr. Pershing and the rest of the 'reactionaries' to grow up!
Posted by: vinny2321 | January 16, 2009 1:47 PM
Our to be beautiful 45TH President of the United States as of January 20, 2013 Sarah Palin is the best future leader for this nation, not Barack Obama. Our to be beautiful 45TH President as of January 20, 2013 Sarah Palin would be better at leading this nation from January 13, 2013 forward than Barack Obama would . The greatest reason Sarah Palin would be better at leading this nation from January 13, 2013 on would be ideology. Our soon to be Vice President Sarah Palin is conservative in that she is pro life, marriage, guns, low taxes, low government spending, small government, unintrosive government, traditional and Judeo Christian values, Bible reading and prayer in our public schools, and military spending. She is also pro free and private enterprise. Barack Obama is a liberal who is anti everything that I have described that Sarah Palin is pro about or for. Please vote for Sarah Palin over Barack Obama on November 6 2012 and give Sarah Palin the opportunity that she deserves and that being our 45th President from January 13, 2013 to January 20, 2021. From January 20 2013 to January 20 2021 or 45th President Sarah Palin will be the greatest President that we have ever had since President Ronald Reagan, and co-equally with President Ronald Reagan , our 45th President Sarah Palin will be the greatest we have ever had.
Thank You
John Warren
Posted by: johntheman7 | January 18, 2009 4:37 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Mr Pershing,
Your sarcasm unleashed on President-Elect Obama's plans to address fiscal responsibility and the difficulties in the Middle East makes one wonder -- Are you are a true proponent of the ostrich in the sand philosophy? Or do you prefer he does indeed recognize these serious problems but merely hopes they go away? Perhaps you believe he doesn't take them seriously enough -- that each one deserves a "dedicated day" of attention in the Press and the minds of the American people? Or are you insinuating our President's, our Nation's capacity is so limited that taking on one thing at a time is all he and/or we can manage? I'm not sure about your practices or capabilities, Mr Pershing, but multitasking for many of us is a way of life.
Rather than being appreciative of President-Elect Obama’s willingness to take on our biggest concerns head-on, you are looking toward how he will fail before he is even in office. Perhaps your next several articles should be criticized before submission and publication?
Rather than credit him for initiative, you are criticizing him for lofty goals? One does not land on the moon by aiming for a nearby pond.
The majority of Americans, Sir, can and do expect more from our Country, our World than the current reality, (not to mention the not-yet-tapped, unlimited possibilities of the future). We cannot do that by ignoring or avoiding the challenges we face. The United States needs a President who is up to these challenges. And we finally, finally have one.