Matt Welch is right: Tying himself to George W. Bush isn’t a good move for the Agent of Change.

And Obama is continuing the Bush practice of issuing signing statements although he promises to do it less often. (Given that the Democrats control Congress you’d sort of expect that, right?) I’m sure the outrage from law school professors and liberal senators will come pouring in any moment about shredding the Constitution and the “unitary executive.” Not.

More evidence of the growing consensus that the Rush Limbaugh gambit backfired from Mickey Kaus: “Quite apart from whether it’s a good idea to take one of your smarter opponents and build him up, the campaign seems petty, partisan and poll-driven–not designed to produce any kind of national pulling-together.”

Economics professor Russell Roberts writes: “But once Obama got into the White House, I think some people actually thought it would be different. He cares, after all, and he has such a high IQ. Krugman is going to have to come to grips with the possibility that maybe it wasn’t Bush that made government so incompetent. It was government.” Perhaps 2012’s presidential election slogan will be: “It’s the government, stupid.”

Maria Bartiromo chimes in: “I think that the market would actually begin to stabilize if Barack Obama came out and said: ‘look, this is the last time you’re going to see me at a podium talking about energy, talking about health care. We’ve got some teams on that.  But right now, all hands on deck. We’re going to fix this economy, we’re going to get jobs going again. And, most importantly, we’re going to recapitalize the banks, and here’s how we’re going to do it.’ People want a plan. They’re confused by all these things. Energy, health care, budget, higher taxes. All they want to know is: is my money safe? Where’s my money?” I’m sure her name is being duly added to the media hit list in Robert Gibbs ever-expanding file.

Noah Scheiber tries really, really hard to defend Tim Geithner and can’t quite do it.

Charles Krauthammer explains why he didn’t attend the stem cell signing ceremony — and why he’s unlikely to be asked to these sorts of things again.

The Washington Post editors slam Hillary Clinton for ignoring human rights.

Sounds like a joke: the Obama team has become so hyper-partisan that Howard Dean told them “enough is enough” with the Rush Limbaugh bashing. He agrees with it, mind you, but political etiquette lessons from Dean are rich.

For the “Sorry we brought it up” file: “At least six senators who have previously supported the so-called card-check proposal, including one Republican, now say they are opposed or not sure — an indication that Senate Democratic leaders are short of the 60 votes they need for approval.”

All in all, it was one rotten day for those opposed to secret ballots in the workplace. Huffington Post reports: “Labor leaders and the Obama administration won no favors from Warren Buffett on Monday morning when the famed investor offered unequivocal criticism for the Employee Free Choice Act.  . . Buffett’s remarks are great fodder for EFCA-opponents.”

Steven Calabresi on Obama’s attention deficit: “The Administration has taken its eye off the ball, which is the financial crisis and the economy, to pursue pie in the sky dreams of health care reform and renewable energy neither of which we can afford right now. This is arguably what Obama complained George W. Bush did when failed to pursue Osama Bin Laden so he could invade Iraq. Obama needs to focus on the financial crisis in a hurry.” Ouch.

Liberals are up in arms about the scrooge-like maneuver to limit the charitiable deductions: “Among those shocked by President Obama’s 2010 budget, the most surprising are the true-blue liberals who run most of America’s nonprofits, universities and charities. How dare he limit tax deductions for charitable giving! They’re afraid they’ll get fewer donations, but they should be more concerned that Mr. Obama’s policies will shove them aside in favor of the New Charity State.” See how Obama is bringing so many diverse people together! Well in opposition to his policies, but still it took George W. Bush years to get this many diverse groups upset with him.

Tim Geithner tries some damage control: “Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner broke little new ground during a nearly two-hour session with the House Democratic Caucus Monday night, but he did give anxious members a chance to grill him with the questions and voice the frustrations they’re hearing back home.” Rather than try to mollify Democrats because he lacks a plan, why not spend his time coming up with a plan? Well, that would be easier, I suspect, if he knew what to do.