"Throw long and deep"

Liberals are rightly pleased to hear Rahm Emanuel say that Barack Obama will pursue an ambitious policy agenda But I don't really understand all the surprise. Once John Edwards began his primary campaign, the Democrats' presidential platform was pretty well set in stone. Clinton parroted it, and so did Obama. Then Obama won the primary. Then, on the same platform, he won the election. And it would be awfully strange (and politically suicidal) for him to now say, "Nope. That was all for show. We're going to be pushing a decidedly Kerry-esque policy agenda from here on out. So sorry." The question is whether Emanuel et al are the right people to move the Obama agenda forward. And that remains to be seen.