Although President George W. Bush is talking a great deal these days about uniting a divided country, suggesting that the notion of compromise with Democrats and liberals is desirable, the reality in the first hours and days of his administration is appearing quite the opposite.
Mr Bush's political agenda is being launched with some of its most controversial and polarising aspects intact. This week, for example, he is expected to send his education package to Congress. Despite objections, it will contain a provision for school vouchers.
Vouchers allow tax credits and reimbursement to parents who wish to send their children to private or religious schools. Critics contend that vouchers, originally the idea of right-wing activists who oppose secular public education, weaken the public school system. They argue that the system allows the wealthy to avoid funding public schools and create sub-standard schools.
President Bush also says he is committed to pressing ahead with his $1.6 trillion tax cut. Many Democrats oppose the structure of the cut, arguing that its provisions favour the wealthy. A number of leading economists oppose its size and are concerned about its effect on the US economy.
Mr Bush's cabinet appointees also presented an aggressive posture in confirmation hearings this week, sending the message that the days of a Democratic agenda are coming to an abrupt end.
Mr Tommy Thompson, the former governor of Wisconsin chosen to head the Health and Human Services Department, told Congress he would immediately order a review of RU-486, the abortion pill that was recently legalised in the US.
Despite the fact that the pill has been safely used in France for years, Mr Thompson said he had "safety" concerns about it. Mr Thompson opposes legal abortion.
Over at the National Institutes of Health, officials are concerned about President Bush's statements that he may move to halt stem cell research.
Although the research holds promise for curing diabetes, and degenerative disease such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's, it is opposed by anti-abortion groups because it utilises stem cell from excess embryos that have typically been created by couples using in-vitro, or Petri dish, fertilisation. The anti-abortion groups believe that life begins at conception and that using such cells is immoral.
The pro-research forces, however, have unlikely allies. Two of most conservative Republican US senators, both abortion opponents, favour stem cell research: one has a daughter with diabetes, and the other a relative with Parkinson's disease.
Ms Gale Norton, Mr Bush's choice to lead the Interior Department, confidently told Congress that she wished to proceed with a plan to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Mr Clinton had blocked such a plan for years, heeding the concerns of environmentalists who contended that the plan would endanger the refuge's rare ecosystem.
Finally there is the likely Senate confirmation of Mr John Ashcroft, the controversial champion of the Republican Party's right wing who is expected to receive the nod to head the Justice Department this week.
Mr Ashcroft, a born-again Christian, opponent of civil rights and women's rights, sparred this week with Sen Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. Sen Kennedy attacked Mr Ashcroft's record, which is extensive, on race issues, and stopped just short of calling him a racist.
Many other Democratic senators, however, including Sen Hillary Rodham Clinton, have been curiously quiet about Mr Ashcroft. The reality is that the Democrats do not have the votes. They do not have the ability to defeat Mr Ashcroft or anyone else proposed by President Bush.
If there is an attempt to heal the wounds of the election, to bring the parties together, it is not yet visible to even the most optimistic observers.