Who are the players?

Regardless of which side you are on or in which direction you feel the country is moving, I don't know how anyone could plausibly deny that the last 6 months have been eventful. I believe the country has changed, perhaps irreversibly; from my point of view, I just hope that it, in fact, is not permanent.

At the end of President Obama's first 6 months, whose influence can we clearly see has been exerted? Whose platform has increased? Who has dominated the discussion?

From a legislative and public image perspective, President Obama has successfully become the face of the way business is done in Washington in the 21st century. This is not shocking, on the one hand; he is ostensibly the world's most powerful man, after all. Yet, from another angle, it bears further examination.

This administration has not been without its gaffes. I should probably watch MSNBC more so that I can find out what is being said about Press Secretary Robert Gibbs by his fans. He seems laughable to me, and I don't mean that in a partisan way; Mike McCurry, for instance, was a fantastic Press Secretary and we know who his boss was. Scott McClellan, on the other hand, made me cringe long before he went native. So hopefully, I've established my bona fides, but not enough for some, I'm sure...Back to Gibbs; on Fox News Sunday this last week, he couldn't repeat enough times that the President had chosen his words poorly in the Gates-gate incident.

Quick, who is the Secretary of State???

Now that you've paused to remember, where on earth is she? How many of you watched her appearance on "Meet the Press" last Sunday? (I meant to; I really did, but I had to slice potatoes or something.) Did you know she just went overseas again for another trip? What happened while she was there? Most of you really don't know the answers to these questions. Think about past Secretaries of State, even recent ones like Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice, let alone Ronald Reagan's (George Shultz) or George Bush I's (James A. Baker III) and the profile they maintained, the news coverage they generated.

Now...who is the Secretary of the Treasury? How about the National Security Advisor? Is the attorney general a man or a woman? What have they been up to lately?

At breakfast with a friend yesterday, we were discussing this very thing. Obama's favorables have been very high until recently; they are now taking a dip, which caused us to consider what team Obama has backing him that are producing policies and driving the agenda, who also have a game plan for obstacles that are thrown in the way and for unseen emergencies that may arise. Our conclusion was that it all begins and ends with Barack Obama. This is good for him if trends move his way with little fluctuation because he gets the glory. If, however, ominous portents continue to emerge, the glossy image is going to cave and it will be come painfully obvious that there is nothing of substance behind the Wizard's curtain.

I dare not leave out Nancy Pelosi when discussing influence in Washington. She forced a stimulus bill through, as well as a Cap & Trade fiasco and is still asserting that the votes are there to pass Health Care. So she has to be credited for getting out there and racking up accomplishments even if I don't support them.

Bill O'Reilly also brought up a valid point last night on the "Factor." Rahm Emanuel is a manifest power in the White House. While not a name that non-political junkies would recognize, his fingerprints are everywhere. He is probably as powerful a Chief of Staff and enforcer as Karl Rove ever was (Rove, in theory, was just a Deputy CoS).

But there you have it. Obama, Pelosi, Emanuel (Rahm, not Jesus; see the Gospel of Matthew 1:23, if you don't get that).

As an admittedly impartial commentator, the remarkable fact to me is the unified stance and, as a result, the enhanced profile that conservatives and some professional Republicans have largely maintained in opposing the President. Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck have ratings that are going through the roof. Jim DeMint, the Senator from South Carolina who holds a 100% rating from the American Conservative Union, is attracting the spotlight for his soft-spoken, but highly vocal opposition to Obama's programs. Sarah Palin, even while resigning from the Governorship in Alaska, has never received more attention from both her supporters and detractors. Minority Leader John Boehner has been resolute in leading the movement for truth in the House on health care, cap and trade and TARP II. And a good number of Republican footsoldiers in the House are out in the media on a regular basis sounding the socialist alarm, from Paul Ryan of Wisconsin to Eric Cantor of Virginia to Mike Pence of Indiana. Now we just need some legislative victories in 2010 to top it all off, as well as more Senators to assist Jim DeMint in his crusade for liberty. Senate Conservatives Fund, anyone?