Ben Muse on the Obama administration’s difficulties ahead:

[Timothy Geithner, Treasury Secretary-to-be] sees the importance of an open economy, and is concerned about building political support for it. He doesn’t have a plan to do it. Telling people how important integration is to their well-being isn’t working. A better educated, more adaptable workforce, and programs to address the frictions associated with adjustment, may not change attitudes and if they do, may only do so in the long run. To top things off, the political problem must be solved in the middle of a delicate and consequential transition.