The Same Old Change.

In the aftermath of Barack Obama's election, partisan pundits immediately declared that the American people were on their side, and ordered the President-Elect to act accordingly. Giddy liberals crowed about the death of American conservatism. In their estimation, Obama had won a mandate to transform the good ol' U.S.A. into the socialist paradise of their dreams. Conservatives, for their part, maintained that America was still a pretty conservative place, and that Obama should play it safe.

Sorry liberals, but it looks like Obama seems to agree with the other side. Kind of.

For all his failings, Obama is smart enough to know that Americans want policies that actually work. Which is why you won't see Obama making any massive changes to the fundamentals of the current American economic system, or other such foolishness. There may be some minor tweaks -- a little more taxation there, a little less over here, a few favors for labor unions -- but at the end of the day, America will be left with the same free-market-plus-a-little-extra system we know and love.

There are, of course, other economic paths that Obama could explore. A long time ago, a bunch of people tried a radically different system. It was called communism, and it was terrible. People starved. Which is what tends to happen when you shun economic reality in favor of utopian fairy-tales. Obama may be a liberal, but his choice of relatively moderate, realistic economic policy advisors shows that his mind isn't frolicking with the marxist unicorns just yet.

And to the peaceniks, who have spent decades (centuries?) waiting for a dove to descend upon Washington: prepare for a major letdown. You swept Obama to the Democratic nomination because Hillary frightened you with her pants-wearing hawkishness. And who does Obama pick as his number one diplomat? Hint: not Dennis Kucinich. But it doesn't stop there. Not satisfied with mildly snubbing the legions of pacifism, Obama has gone for a full Three Stooges style eye-poking by letting Bush's Secretary of Defense stick around for the new administration.

Don't worry hippies. It's not personal -- it's business.

At this critical juncture in our nation's history (don't you love it when people say that?), America can't afford to be declawed. The war in Iraq may be winding down, but the battle for Afghanistan is just getting started, and the world seems to be inching ever closer to a second cold war. Flower power alone won't be enough to get America through the next four years. That doesn't mean that Obama will be galavanting around the globe on military expeditions; quite the contrary, he'll almost certainly make heavy use of "soft power". But judging by his cabinet appointments, other options will remain on the table.

However, Obama's apparent (and hopefully, genuine) moderation has nothing to do with America being a center-right nation. Even if they lean a little to the right, most Americans are fairly pragmatic. The issue isn't right versus left; it's what works versus what doesn't. To put it another way, America doesn't necessarily lean to right -- but reality does.

So, if Obama doesn't end up raising taxes on businesses, restricting free trade, and hugging terrorists, it won't come as a surprise to me. No matter how "transformational" he may be, even the chosen one can't transform the laws of the universe.