It is curious how the sexual metaphor -- with all its ambiguities -- is used often in politics. For example, British conservative Benjamin Disraeli criticized Prime Minister Robert Peel for reversing his position on free trade, in the following passage:

"There is no doubt a difference in the right honorable gentleman's demeanor as leader of the Opposition and as Minister of the Crown. But that's the old story: you must not contrast too strongly the hours of courtship with the years of possession. I remember him making his protection speeches. They were the best speeches I ever heard. It was a great thing to hear the right honorable gentleman say: 'I would sooner be the leader of the gentlemen of England than possess the confidence of Sovereigns.' We don't hear much of the 'gentlemen of England' now. But what of that? They have the pleasures of memory -- the charms of reminiscences. They were his first love, and though he may not kneel to them now as in the hour of passion, still they can recall the past; and nothing is more useless or unwise than these scenes of crimination and reproach, for we know that in all these cases, when the beloved object has ceased to charm, it is in vain to appeal to the feelings."

That's how I feel about President-elect Obama's sweet honeymoon words of passionate bipartisanship. I don't expect the sentiment to last past the first tussle. Even now I feel the cold stare of calculation in his eyes.

Actually, I prefer the metaphor of a president's first 100 days in office, which derives from the approximately 100 days in 1815 when Napoleon escaped from the island of Elba, fought his way to Waterloo (where the Duke of Wellington defeated him), and was replaced as leader of France by Louis XVIII.

Whether the metaphor is to sex or war, in politics we can expect sparks to fly. The sooner the better.