Krauthammer...

http://http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/05/AR2009020502766_pf.html

"......The Age of Obama begins with perhaps the greatest frenzy of old-politics influence peddling ever seen in Washington. By the time the stimulus bill reached the Senate, reports the Wall Street Journal, pharmaceutical and high-tech companies were lobbying furiously for a new plan to repatriate overseas profits that would yield major tax savings. California wine growers and Florida citrus producers were fighting to change a single phrase in one provision. Substituting "planted" for "ready to market" would mean a windfall garnered from a new "bonus depreciation" incentive.

After Obama's miraculous 2008 presidential campaign, it was clear that at some point the magical mystery tour would have to end. The nation would rub its eyes and begin to emerge from its reverie. The hallucinatory Obama would give way to the mere mortal. The great ethical transformations promised would be seen as a fairy tale that all presidents tell -- and that this president told better than anyone.

I thought the awakening would take six months. It took two and a half weeks."

Unlike one notable talk show host, I don't want Obama to fail, and very few rank and file conservatives with whom I've spoken want him to fail. And if they wanted him not not have all of his legislative programs pass, they certainly did not want a re-run of the Carter presidency, when the president's domestic weakness caused his influence in international affairs to wane as well.

During the campaign I often made the point that I was not overly concerned about Obama's lack of experience, because if he won, he would bring into the government old Democratic hands that would offer solid advice. Clinton got off to a rough start because he had a highly inexperienced White House staff that vastly overestimated the value of new blood. Let's hope that this White House will find some senior Democrats to help them out.