For the last few months I've been reading that the Reagan era is about to end, or is in the process of ending, or has ended already. Now it's true that the people who have been arguing this have made the same argument, again and again, since the Reagan era began in 1980. But in recent months they've had some facts to back it up: Bush's dismal popularity, the GOP losses in Congress, the Bush administration's embrace of massive government intervention in the economy as a response to the financial crisis, the likelihood of an Obama victory next Tuesday, etc. Here's the thing, though. If you watched The Barack Obama Show last night, you saw the Democratic nominee for president campaigning on ... a tax cut; "eliminating" government programs that "don't work" and making those "that do work work better" (meaning, "cheaper," presumably); and expanding the U.S. military and increasing U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. Yes, Obama wants to "end" the war in Iraq and expand government subsidies for health insurance. Those are both major parts of his agenda. But they are just parts. Other parts, a whole lot of them actually, are center-right. The most liberal senator is running as a centrist candidate. Which sets up plenty of expectations for how President Obama might govern. Expectations that would be politically perilous for Obama to dismiss.