obamania

I'd like to give a big shout out to the Obama people in the house. Good for you - you're making the change happen. Check out the latest issue of The Economist for the roll call of Obama's brain trust:

Austan Goolsbe

• "[His] record suggests neither the hostility towards globalised capitalism nor the desire for large-scale redistribution that conservatives...might fear"
• "a problem-solver who favours such unsexy proposals as altering American tax forms"

Jason Furman

• "His presence rebuts criticism that Mr Obama's team has too little policymaking experience."
• "staunch free-trader"

Tony Lake

• Noted as one of the "seasoned foreign-policy practitioners who also disapproved of the invasion [of Iraq]"

Susan Rice

• "wants more done to end killing in Darfur"

David Axelrod

• "the man who made 'change' into a campaign theme"
• "he can deliver a punch"

David Plouffe

• "disciplined and parsimonious"
• "amass[ed]... the biggest political piggybank ever seen"

As the snippets above might lead you to believe, the magazine seems fairly smitten with the Obama crew. Of course, being the "Tory rag" that it is, the editorial staff can't leave off without a few daggers thrown in the direction of the progressive candidate:

"The lynchpin of his campaign has been a faith, almost messianic, in his personal excellence. If that fades, then the whole operation could collapse in frustration and disillusionment."

photo courtesy of flickr user eCitizen Tchao (who seems to have no compunction about posting the work of other people to flickr).