If President-elect Barack Obama had any thought of sailing smoothly into his new digs at 1600 Pennsylvania, drama in the U.S. Senate has practically dashed any semblance of that as wishful thinking.
First, there was the flap surrounding the controversial appointment of Roland Burris, who today officially becomes the junior Senator from my home state of Illinois. The initial Democratic blockade resulted in an unflattering media spectacle that could have sparked a constitutional battle involving lawmakers and the courts at both the state and federal levels. At a time when Democrats should have been celebrating their executive and legislative wins, history can only tell how much of a stain the furor over Obama's vacated Senate seat has left on the moment.
Now the spotlight shifts to the upcoming vote on the Treasury program, expected either late today or Friday. In the past week support has been waning, and top Obama advisers have been on the Hill lobbying for the release the second half of the $700 billion dollar bailout package. Obama has his work cut out for him. He's also pushing his economic agenda on another front - selling his nearly $800 billion dollar stimulus proposal.
It appears Obama's first, real test of political capital will be spent in a venue with which he's familiar - the Senate, where he'll not only have to get Republicans on board but Democrats who campaigned against the burgeoning deficit last fall. It's a tall order that will probably require some "pocket change" to say the least, but given the state of the economy it's more than likely that lawmakers in the Senate will comply.