HOW LONG BEFORE HE'S TELLING US TO WEAR SWEATERS?:

Obama may be the 'no we can't' President: After the waves of optimism, this was an inaugural speech that dared to set limits on the world's expectations (Daniel Finkelstein , 1/21/09, Times of London)

Mr Obama was elected on a wave of optimism, a surge of hope. But I think that when he is remembered by future generations it may be as the man who said: “No we can't.” Mr Obama's soaring rhetoric lifts hearts, his ambition excites the imagination, but just as impressive to those who meet him is his cool, detached demeanour. He may prove just the man America is looking for - the man who can unleash its “can't do” spirit. [...]

He described a nation at war, an economy badly weakened, a collective failure to make hard choices. And while the new President promised to face these difficulties, he was extremely careful not to promise to eliminate them.

His attempt to summarise his attitude to the state produced this: “The question we ask today is not whether our Government is too big or too small, but whether it works.” In other words, he offered his audience ruthless pragmatism, a clear-eyed realism distinct from the upbeat message of the campaign trail.

On foreign policy, too, his message was one of restraint. In a speech that was longer on poetic phrases than on arresting ideas, one of the most interesting passages was when he said that earlier generations “knew that our power grows through its prudent use” and that security emanates from “the tempering qualities of humility and restraint”.

Mr Obama's inaugural address, then, was a piece of expectation management. Already he is warning his supporters to understand the limits of change and the constraints he is under.

It was a distinctly different tone from the campaign.