This blog has determinedly called for the American government to take "bold, persistent experimentation" in the FDR tradition in its approach to dealing with the financial crisis. Your correspondent has not and will not presume to recommend any courses of action. I pointed out several different possibilities, including a future solution (after the world has dragged itself out of this crisis) revolving around counter-cyclical policy. That may work or it may fail; but the Economist certainly agrees that fiscal and monetary policy must be bolder.

http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displayStory.cfm?story_id=12685546&source=hptextfeature

Your correspondent also noted that Mr Obama would not be the partisan many feared. In the wake of his chief-of-staff appointment Rahm Immanuel, right-of-center thoughts feared that Obama would not be the centrist many of us hoped he would be. I argued otherwise.

http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displayStory.cfm?story_id=12685546&source=hptextfeature

Where it matters most, Mr Obama has so far not disappointed this blog as either a centrist, or an ally for those pressing for bigger, badder, and bolder financial solutions. This is not the time for either Mr Obama nor this blog to sit on our laurels.

Mr Obama, president-elect though he is, is still younger and junior to his colleagues in the Democratic party. Nonetheless, he is the president. Mr Obama must reject and resist the temptation to move away from centrism. For the sake of both his election hopes and the future of his country, Mr Obama ought to continue to ignore the rabid partisans on either side of the spectrum. His economic appointments are a good step forward; allowing Mr Gates to continue on would be another encouraging step.

In short, Mr Obama ought to continue his centrist streak.