"This is the violin model: Hold power with the left hand, and play the music with your right."

"Mr. Obama is planning to govern from the center-right of his party, surrounding himself with pragmatists rather than ideologues," the New York Times reports.  Didn't we figure that's what he'd do?  Ideas are meant to duke it out on a daily basis; people who govern as a team should get along as a team.  One former Clinton official, David Rothkopf, is quoted in the Times as saying, "This is the violin model: Hold power with the left hand, and play the music with your right."

The next anxiety-provoking question is whether Hillary Clinton will bend to the president's will.  And the answer, it would seem, is "she'd better."  But she's iffy and she's considerably more hawkish than Obama.

"... It is the selection of Mrs. Clinton that appears the biggest gamble,she has never had to engage in the give-and-take of high-stakes diplomacy, and in part because no one really knows how she will mesh with the Obama White House."

Still, as some have pointed out, the names "Obama" and "Clinton" already do magic for us overseas.  Together, they're a powerful statement about getting America back on track with the international community.

Geithner is a great choice for Treasury -- he's experienced in crash + bailout already and has earned a lot of respect over the years as someone with great judgment and tact and little ego, according to reports in the media.  "And he's very, very smart," they're saying. 

The Times piece addresses some of the most immediate questions about a transition which is occurring during a series of crises here and abroad.  The next president really does have to hit the ground running.  No honeymoons, no mistakes. 

"With the country facing a deep recession or worse, global market turmoil, chaos in Pakistan and a worsening war in Afghanistan, 'there’s going to be no time for experimentation,' a member of the Obama foreign policy team said.That explains Mr. Obama’s first selection:  Rahm Emanuel, another centrist Democrat and former member of the Clinton White House, as his chief of staff."

The Times' Pauline Collins is saying what we're all thinking:  wouldn't it be great if Bush/Cheney resigned in time for Thanksgiving.  She even goes on to appoint Pelosi as pro-tem president while Obama works on the transition.  Isn't that what we all want?  And Bush could save at least some of his reputation by removing himself from the opportunity to do further damage to the country.

"In happier days, Bush may have nurtured hopes of making it into the list of America’s mediocre presidents, but somewhere between Iraq and Katrina, that goal became a mountain too high. ... We’ve been living a Technicolor version of 'The Perils of Pauline.' Detroit is tied to the railroad tracks and the train is coming! California’s state government is falling into the sea! The way we’re going now, by the time the inauguration rolls around, unemployment will be at 10 percent and the Dow will be at 10. Time for a change."

Funny.  But the possibility for further incompetence or malfeasance during the dying days of the Bush administration are having a serious effect on the country.  For that reason James Surowiecki, writing in the New Yorker, welcomes the appointment of Tim Geithner to Treasury.

"The Geithner appointment doesn’t solve the interregnum problem, obviously. But it does reassure Wall Street that a smart, capable person—who isn’t Hank Paulson—will be running Treasury, and that Obama is serious about bringing real stability to the markets."