Simon Tisdall writes at The Guardian that Barack Obama is making a big mistake by not being more assertive about Gaza.

Obama has remained wholly silent during the Gaza crisis. His aides say he is following established protocol that the US has only one president at a time. Hillary Clinton, his designated secretary of state, and Joe Biden, the vice-president-elect and foreign policy expert, have also been uncharacteristically taciturn on the subject.

But evidence is mounting that Obama is already losing ground among key Arab and Muslim audiences that cannot understand why, given his promise of change, he has not spoken out. Arab commentators and editorialists say there is growing disappointment at Obama’s detachment – and that his failure to distance himself from George Bush’s strongly pro-Israeli stance is encouraging the belief that he either shares Bush’s bias or simply does not care.

I sincerely understand that the world’s hair is on fire, and it is dashing about frantically wanting someone to take charge of things, and where the bleep is the POTUS?

But, in effect, there is no POTUS. Or, rather, there is the aggregate of protoplasm known as “George W. Bush” taking up space where there ought to be a POTUS, and that’s how it’s going to be for a few more days. As eager as everyone is for Obama to get on with things, there are arguments to be made for his staying out of the way until he gets the actual power of office in his hands.

First, like it or not, it really would not do to have two administrations going on at the same time. If (Buddha forbid) something might happen that would require the current Administration to act, there can be no confusion as to who is in charge. Well, OK, at the moment no one is in charge. But, legally, Obama cannot step into that vacuum, as tempting as it might be to have him do so. That is a precedent that should not be set, or else it could cause genuine havoc in the future.

We’ve had quite enough of ignoring the rule of law in the Bush Administration. One of the things we all hope President Obama will do is restore proper Constitutional checks and balances.

As fluid and combustible as the Mideast situation is, I think it would be unwise for Obama to issue statements about what he will do as soon as he takes office, because by the time he takes office the situation might be drastically changed. Again, I don’t see the point.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. What do you think?