From the "Don't panic" file.

Will Marshall, president of the Progressive Policy Institute, counsels calm...

...Obama is keeping faith with the people who elected him. He’s also maneuvering the Republicans into a position where they appear as dogmatic, lock-step partisans –and politically impotent to boot, since they can’t block a big stimulus bill from passing. And let’s face it: While the president has tried to foster a new spirit of comity and cooperation, the stimulus plans make very few concessions to GOP demands when you look at the big picture.

It seems a bit much to criticize the provisions of the stimulus/recovery/jobs bill until it's actually written, which will happen in conference. President Obama seems open to restoring some of the House priorities, but at the expense of something, no doubt, since $838 billion seems to be the magic number that gets 60 in the Senate.

Meanwhile, he's signed Ledbetter and the SCHIP expansion, ordered Guantanamo closed, reversed the Ashcroft era obstruction of FOIA and has ordered the Generals to create a timely withdrawal plan for Iraq. There are encouraging signs of a new level of caution over escalation in Afghanistan.

Did I mention that we don't torture anymore?

C'mon, folks. It's been a heckuva couple weeks, by any measure.

Or did you think that this would be easy?