On a political level, Congress and the media pushed Nixon to the left and he embraced good liberal policies such as environmental protection, as well as idiotic liberal policies such as wage-and-price controls. Except on foreign policy, Congress and the media are pushing Obama to the left, in the same direction as his basic predispositions.

Only time and circumstance will reveal if he embraces the good and staves off the ugly.

Obama is an idealist; when he discovered that community activism in Chicago had zero impact on people's lives, he moved into politics. At heart a pure liberal, he believes in using government to "help" people. As a classic pragmatist, he does not know exactly how to do that, so -- as pragmatists often do -- he is turning to experts.

Yet, says Maranto, "Here's the rub: the experts don't know, either."

Experts always want more cash for their own programs. But if you think that you can just get a bunch of really smart people in a room and fix, say, global warming -- not to mention health care or the economy -- then you are smoking the same happy-smoke as Jimmy Carter.

"Carter appointed lots of really bright, really capable people -- who all disagreed with each other," recalled Maranto. "He created the least coherent administration in modern history. Obama is smarter and more disciplined than Carter, so maybe he can pull it off."

Democrats believe public problems tend to require public solutions. Republicans believe most public problems can be solved through private transactions, and they also see fewer problems than do Democrats.

With his stimulus package, President Obama has proven that, like all politicians, he loves pork.

No matter what his dogma is or will be, he will never let it get in the way of that pork.