Is the honeymoon over before it began?

It's still more than a week before President-elect Barack Obama will lose the "-elect" part of his title, but people are already getting a bit prickly. Even (or especially) Democrats.

Last week's political news was dominated by Democratic criticism of Obama's Cabinet choices and, most strikingly, his massive economic recovery plan. The soon-to-be 44th president responded by saying, in essence, show me what you got:

"If members of Congress have good ideas, if they can identify a project for me that will create jobs in an efficient way that does not hamper our ability over the long term to get control of our deficit, that is good for the economy, then I'm going to accept it."

Both sides in the debate stressed that they agreed on far more than they disagreed, but the message was clear. There's no free lunch, or stimulus package, for the incoming White House.

After Obama’s choices of Leon Panetta to head the CIA and rumored surgeon general pick Sanjay Gupta raised some tailfeathers, Politico's Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen summarized:

People shouldn’t exaggerate the significance of these scratchy moments. In the end, Obama will likely get all or much of what he wants in these cases. Obama advisers acknowledge they botched the Panetta rollout, quickly apologized to Feinstein, and Panetta now seems virtually certain to get confirmed.

Congressional egos are a Washington constant. Obama will face constant pushback from Reid and Pelosi who are just as eager as the president-elect to assert and use their newly enhanced power.

But Obama's not just getting flak from his party. Politico reports this nugget from a New York Times panel this weekend:

If his stimulus plan "doesn't work out, he may very well be a one-term president,” said Jeff Zeleny, who covered Obama’s campaign. “It’s hard to imagine that he could be reelected if the economy’s in the exact same position four years from now.”

Re-election? Don't get us wrong -- the '08 race was as exciting as they come, but let's enjoy the fact that’s over for just a little while.

In the meantime, if Obama's looking for advice on how to handle bad news, President Bush offered a little in his last press conference. He warned that Obama will face "disappointments" as president. But not to worry, says Bush. Those downers are a "minor irritant" compared to the excitement of the job.

Two difficult wars, a dire economy on the homefront -- it's no wonder people are concerned about what lies ahead. But maybe we ought to take a deep breath, let Obama take his oath and make the whole thing legal before we start thinking about the new new guy.

--Sarah Parsons