Barack O-Boring. Where Has Sarah Palin Gone?

Geez. Who would have thought that the first black president of the United States was going to be so...boring.

A sensible cost-effective way. Budget reform is not an option; it's a necessity. This isn't about big government or small government; it's about building a smarter government.

And today's typically excellent, well-qualified, smart-as-a-whip appointee: Peter Orszag of Brookings, Princeton, and the London School of Economics to be the White House budget director.

It looks like the president-elect knows what he's doing. He has certainly got the presidential podium thing down. He had some moments today, and it was great, earlier in the month, when he called himself a mutt. That was pretty funny.

And I suppose, in these troubled times, that smart and boring can be good.

It's not like I miss Sarah Palin.

Well, OK, maybe a little.

• Click here to read more by John Aloysius Farrell.
• Click here to read more from the Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
• Click here to read more about the Obama transition.