criticize or oppose proposals from The One. I think. And I fear.

I'm not sure, but but it seemed that Atrios declared Obama neutrality yesterday in this post:

His Way

I find myself to be really not in the mood to nitpick every move and personnel decision Obama makes. Ultimately the policies and results matter, not the aesthetics of every move and nature of every hire.

I'm not saying that those things are of no importance, but I've been rolling my eyes at all the "WHAT OBAMA NEEDS TO DO" editorials and discussions on the teevee. Sometimes I roll my eyes over the substance ("govern from the center!"), but often I'm rolling my eyes over the fact that they're doing it at all.

Not saying this is a criticism-free zone, just that there's still a bit of time before the guy actually starts doing stuff.

The attitude of the acolytes will be that if you're not with him, you're against him.

Meet the new boss.... It will be extremely difficult to hold his feet to the fire--and right now there doesn't seem to be huge agreement as to what that fire will be or should be, etc.

they're absolutely useless.

Greenwald links to it in that post -- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB12263672... -- Intelligence Policy to Stay Largely Intact

"... The hangover from a recession typically lasts more than a year, and this recession isn’t over yet. So he will be at risk of the same kind of midterm drubbing in 2010 that Ronald Reagan received in 1982 and Bill Clinton did in 1994. In the days leading up to this year’s election, as they confidently reviewed the polls, some Obama aides took to joking darkly that 2010 was already looking bad.
..." -- http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/busine...

That Glenn felt the need to include the disclaimer her did? Actually, it's more scary than sad. Today, the growing narrative is to hold back on criticizing how Obama does things until he becomes president. And, as we already know, there are already those asking us to hold back on criticism of the first few months, and then...well, you see the pattern.

Remember what happened the last time we were afraid to ask the president a question out of fear of being labeled un-American? Yeah, that isn't exactly working out too well for us, is it? I pray and hope that there will be enough dissent out there when we come upon the questions of, say, Iran and Pakistan...