The Way Back Machine / "Do You Remember The Time"?

Now might be a fun time to think way back to when Obama announced his appointment of Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff. Remember how the media kept telling us that Emanuel was a "moderate" and a "pragmatist", and that this appointment is a sign that Obama intends to govern from the center? We heard ABC calling Emanuel a "centrist", CNN saying he is "on the center to center-right" on the political spectrum. We heard polls suggesting even most Republicans love Rahm Emanuel. The National Journal said Emanuel is "pragmatic enough to keep the administration from veering too far to the left".

I shudder to think of the amount of power that it would take, as measured in any appropriate scientific unit, to keep the Obama administration from "veering too far to the left". My guess is much more power than this comparatively paltry amount:

It'd probably take some amount more along the lines of this, or maybe even this.