Discussion in the media is now beginning to focus on the transition, how much they will tackle initially, and which issues will take precdence.  Clearly, the most successful modern Presidencies focus on just a handful of major items and stick to them in the early months after taking office.  In contrast, FDR and LBJ had sweeping, multiple initiatives that were put through at the outset but they did this as a result of significant party discipline and overwhelming numbers in the Congress.

If Obama is confident the Congressional leadership can and will deliver the swift and unified backing of Congressional Democrats then Obama can take the FDR/LBJ approach.  If Reid and Pelosi cannot guarantee (and I suspect that is the case) that sort of cooperation and swift passage, then Obama would be foolish to proceed on more than 4 major priorities in the first six months of his aministration.

As is their wont (like a dog that's been kicked one too many times) their is a stampede among many liberal/Democratic leaning pundits and commentators in the blogosphere to urge Obama to compromise, lower expectations and otherwise "prepare" the electorate for less change than they had hoped for mainly because of the massive addition to the deficit as a result of the $850 Billion Wall Street Welfare Bill (oops, I mean "rescue" bill).  Whether or not the bailout bill was passed, compromise on many details of individual inititatives would be required of any new administration.  However, it is important for the new administration not to compromise on the big picture which is the broad agenda and priorities Obama has established which are health care, climate change, getting out of Iraq, and energy independence (which really is a subset of climate change).

If Obama focuses on those four items, he ought to be able to succeed on each of them in the coming 6 months.  If he does so, that will set the tone for his entire first term.  If, instead, he allows his staff and Congressional Democrats to leave the reservation and break up the focus on a million different pet projects, group interests, etc... such as what we're seeing in all the talking to the press right now about executive orders and such, it will be much like the beginning of Jimmy Carter's term or the first Pres. Bush when he took office.  The momentum will be lost and the honeymoon will be short.

Obama/Emanuel needs to maintain tight control and discipline over who talks to the media and what they talk about.  Democrats always bring problems upon themselves by talking way to much to the media.  Historically it seems Democrats apparently cannot resist trying to be in the limelight and instantly suffer from diarrhea of the mouth the moment they gain power.  Obama must find a cure for this.  The entire focus should be strictly limited to the handful of priorities Obama sets right now.  There should be no compromise, however, on what Obama's prirorities or agenda will be. 

He must deliver to the people on the broad issues he discussed consistently for the past two years.  He may not be able to do everything he promised right away, but if he capitulates in advance and tells the people we have to put one or more of the big issues he talked about during the campaign on the back burner that would be a very bad sign for the coming four years.  Whether or not that occurs is clearly a choice and not a fait accomplis either way.  I hope Obama's vision of what he wants to achieve is not clouded by the crisis of the moment or by the consistently bad advice that passes for wisdom among DC oriented Demcorats.