The biggest fireworks in the Senate nominating process may be over Obama's pick for attorney general, Eric H. Holder. The first round of that fight occurred Tuesday when Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the top-ranked Republican on the Judiciary Committee, unleashed a blistering attack on Holder's record as deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration.

In a Senate floor speech, Specter sharply criticized Holder's role in the Clinton pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich; Clinton's 1999 decision to grant clemency to 16 militant Puerto Rican nationalists; and the DOJ's rejection of an independent council to investigate the widespread campaign finance abuses by the White House and Vice President Al Gore.

Suggesting that Holder was too willing to do the Clinton administration's dirty work, Specter said his nomination raised "the issue of character," pointedly adding that "sometimes it is more important for the attorney general to have the stature and the courage to say 'no' instead of to say 'yes.'"

Obama's party has been giving him some headaches, too, including the Senate Democrats' initial refusal to admit the duly appointed Roland Burris to fill Obama's vacant Senate seat, a stance that has angered African-American Democrats.

Meanwhile, top Democratic congressional leaders have told Obama that his economic stimulus bill won't be ready for him to sign on inauguration day. Indeed, it will take at least a month and a half for the House to act on it, and probably longer than that in the Senate.

Congressional sources tell me that Obama's economic stimulus plan is still a work in progress that remains incomplete at this writing.

The past few weeks have been the equivalent of a political cold shower for the former freshman senator who has never run anything larger than a neighborhood organization.

The last few weeks will look like a honeymoon, compared to what's coming. Welcome to Washington, Mr. Obama.