So the week started with Bush as the President of the USA and not much happening except getting ready for the inauguration. Then Tuesday happens, and it feels like a tornado is going through the government. In over 30 years of watching national politics, I do not remember this kind of change happening so quickly, in so many areas.

CNN is making a big deal about covering Obama’s first 100 days. But is seems that in his first 100 hours, he has already accomplished more than the Bush administration did in the last year. Just the first three days of Executive Orders shows the enormous difference between the former and present administrations.

Not everybody is happy of course. The Republicans have decided that their losses in the elections are proof they need to stand up and disagree with Obama more. I am not sure pushing back hard is a good idea at this time. It will probably be popular with their base, but not so much with the more moderate section of the population that they need to woo back. It does show a certain amount of chutzpah, which I wish some of the Democrats could learn to have. On the other hand, it may just be an inability to grasp reality.

And one very important Democrat understands exactly where the country is right now. And the President let the GOP know it during their meeting this morning.

But some progressives need to see about picking up some tin foil from their haberdasher. While the title of his article, Obama and Ted Kennedy See Plans Foiled as Caroline Withdraws? does end with a question mark, Steve Clemons writes it like he knows exactly what Obama and Ted Kennedy were planning. And what they were planning was a Machiavellian scheme to set up Caroline Kennedy for a run at the Presidency in 2016. His reliance on anonymous insiders and an inability to get simple facts straight (Senator Kirsten Gillibrand will have to run in 2010, then again in 2012 if she wins), as well as his apparent mind reading abilities, tend to count against his credibility.

And it is looking like the trial in Minnesota will not be too long. Coleman does not appear to be doing well even convincing judges appointed by Republicans that his legal arguments are correct. With luck, this might possibly be over by the end of next week. (Was that enough weasel words?)

I guess it all comes down to, right now it feels really good to be able to say President Barack Obama. I hope he continues as well as he has started.

There are a lot of places you can hear about the inauguration. It is of course a front page, above the fold, story almost everywhere in the world. In the Gaza Strip, they are treating their wounded, and finding and burying their dead. And they wonder if he will be any different from past American Presidents. A friend from Croatia emailed me to have a happy Obama day, and they are showing the inauguration live there. The same is true to one extent or another over most of the world.

The feelings about Obama are mixed of course. You have people like Rush Limbaugh that say they want him to fail. (No, I am not linking to it. I refuse to give him more publicity than just mentioning his name.) Other conservatives don’t care for most of his policies, but realize that  if he fails, another Great Depression is probably the least of what we have to look forward to.

There are liberals and progressives that are not happy about some of the choices he has already made, and will be angry at him in the years to come, for other things he will do. Keith Olbermann did a special comment that raises one issue of contention. But they all realize he is a much better choice than McCain would have been.

From here in Ohio, it looks like the constant in the Obama era will be change. Right after he took the oath, the website at Whitehouse.gov changed. Anyone that visited the Obama campaign website will recognize the design. And the philosophy behind the site has also changed. Instead of just a site of information, it is a site for participation. They are asking for the grassroots that helped elect Obama to help him run the country. I have to admit, that sounds very good to me.

Basically, the greatest feeling I personally have about today is relief. Bush and Cheney are gone, Obama and Biden became the leaders of the country safely, and it feels like there is something to hope for again. And I know I am not the only person that feels like this. The Colonel And Company does a good job of expressing it.

There is a down note. CNN has reported that Senator Ted Kennedy had a seizure at the Congressional luncheon after the inauguration. Other reports say that Senator Byrd also had health problems there, but that has not been confirmed and has been disputed by police.

As the inauguration gets closer, and Obama makes his choices for cabinet positions and other important jobs in his administration, more and more people are complaining. I do not believe a single choice has been met with unanimous approval from anyone, except for maybe the press, since it gives them something to talk about. My opinion? (Hey, it is as valid as anyone else’s.) Let him decide who he wants.

I don’t mean let the unqualified (just had 8 years of that thanks) or criminal (ditto) take the jobs. But none of the people that Obama has nominated come close to that. They have been uniformly intelligent, informed people, most of whom have extensive background in the area he has chosen for them.

I don’t agree with all of his choices. Nothing against Hillary, but I think Bill Richardson would have been a kick-ass Secretary of State. I think he will also do well at Commerce, where his background also works well. And in 8 years (I hope) there will be changes in who is where in the cabinet. That is pretty normal.

What I am finding annoying are the people saying that Bill’s donation list could cause problems with Hillary being Secretary of State. Or the Republicans on Holder’s role in the Clinton pardon of Marc Rich. I do not agree with either of these people on everything, but none of the information I have seen comes close to being enough to disqualify them from the offices they are nominated for.

The same goes for Salazar having close ties to the oil industry, or Mary Schapiro being too mild to effectively turn around the SEC. Maybe these are the wrong people for the jobs. Maybe not. I am not the President Elect, I don’t have the same information about them he does, and I don’t think it is a good idea to second guess him.

I do not say this because I think he can do no wrong. He can, and has made mistakes, witness the current brouhaha about Rick Warren. I think he should get exactly who he wants right now, because of the present world situation.

Obama is going into office with not just the US economy in trouble, but the entire world economy in the tank. We are involved in 2 wars, with people dying every day, and our standing in the world is extremely low. I do not feel the President of the USA is leader of the free world. A few decades ago, that title was much more appropriate, but, until a few years ago, he was definitely first among equals.

If Obama is going to take on all the problems facing him, and restore at least some of America’s standing in the world, he should have everything we can give him to do that. That means oking the people he has chosen to work with him. Even if we do not like everything about them or their positions. There will be plenty of time to Monday morning quarterback later. And I am certain there will be plenty of it, no matter how things turn out.