The closer we get to the inauguration, the more decisions President-elect Obama is making about governing. He is:
-- choosing Democratic comity and spending over a thinner, broader coalition by reducing the profile and scope of his tax cuts
-- choosing health care over national cap-and-trade, at least in year one. Just watch this one....
-- promising to solve the entitlement quandary by commission and consensus, rather than by proposing. Note that Obama and other Democrats, during the campaign, referred to Social Security and Medicare as promises to keep, rather than "entitlements," which transfers the moral responsibility onto the government. Now it's back to "entitlements." Among the possible reforms for Social Security, which Obama calls "easy": indexing benefit increases to inflation, rather than to wages. For Medicare? The incoming administration isn't floating anything aside from cutting the Medicare Advantage subsidy for insurance companies.
-- favoring journalists. Is the New York Times is out, and the Washington Post are in. Certain conservative voices are in, others are out. Some liberal bloggers have the administration's ear; others get no love. Obama began a series of off-the-record discussions this week with pundits and aides say he plans to continue them as president. He met yesterday with the editorial board of the Washington Post on a day when, randomly, a New York Times White House correspondent was assigned to the press pool.
-- ignoring press fretting over a harried transition. Gallup finds that 83% of Americans surveyed believe that the Obama transition has been a success. His approval rating is in the mid-seventies. Americans are growing slightly less pessmistic and slightly more optimistic about their futures. (I said slightly.)
Keep track of Obama's promises at National Journal's Promise Audit.
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