Monday, January 19, 2009

Anticipation

The world anxiously awaits tomorrow's inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States. Some people will expect instant miracles; others are waiting for the first mistake to happen to say "I told you so." Both groups will be disappointed when actual events end up somewhere in the middle.

Change was the tagline of the Obama campaign, and undoubtedly change will be coming. But there is enough bureaucracy in Washington DC that will slow some change down, and outright circumvent other change.

The opposition will wait for miscues to come, and when they do, pounce with all they have. Even some of President Obama's own will differ at some point.

Some pundits point to the similarities of FDR's assumption of the presidency and are looking for similar actions - actions that had both an immediate impact and were still in place 70 years later.

So here we are - it's the day before the Obama presidency - the legacy is already being shaped. What will the first 100 days be like?

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