KEY POINTS:
It was the word Barack Obama wrapped in his gospel cadence to suggest a shaking of the earth and buckling of the hills should he ride the popular will into the White House.
"Together we will change the world!" he bellowed at final campaign rallies.
At the moment the only rumbling to be heard is from the disgruntled platoons of America' s "progressive" left, alarmed at the imminent return of centrist Clintonistas to the corridors of power.
Obama presented himself during the campaign as someone who hadn't been around Washington long enough to, as he sneered, be "seasoned".
Some Obama supporters now wonder how it is that their primary season rivals were submerged, only to float to the top with stunning timing.
Is a "Clinton restoration" change we can believe in? they ask.
In what has become an oft-quoted statistic, a Politico.com count showed that 31 of Obama's first 47 appointments were 90s retreads.
That was before it emerged that Gregory Craig, a lawyer and former Clinton State department official, will probably become White House counsel and Eric Holder, the former No 2 at the Justice Department to Janet Reno, is expected to land the plumb Attorney-General's job - becoming the first African American to do so.
The words "former Clinton administration official" are on high rotation among discussions of the Obama transition. As yet, no top Cabinet appointments have officially been announced.
Obama firstly appointed John Podesta, a former Clinton administration chief of staff, head of his transition team.
Obama then chose Illinois Representative Rahm Emanuel, a highly ranked and rated Congressman and former Clinton White House aide, as his chief of staff.
Politico has also reported on agitation from women's groups over the possible return of former Clinton Treasury Secretary Larry Summers - still persona non grata for suggesting, while president of Harvard in 2005, that differences between men and women might be one reason why fewer women succeed at maths and science.
And then there's the much talked about possibility of Hillary Clinton herself signing on. Since the other most likely slots for her were Justice and Health and they appear to have been filled, Secretary of State now looks more than probable.
That doesn't please some on the left, concerned that Clinton supported the Iraq War Obama was so opposed to.
A party strategist told Time: "What were the last two years all about? The restoration of the Clintons?"
Under a heading, "A Clinton administration?", Tom Engelhardt wrote in The Nation: "No one should be shocked to discover that, in his transition to the presidency, the 'inexperienced' former senator from Chicago has turned to the last Democratic administration that had experience in Washington. It seems, however, that the Obama team is doing so big time ... You might also be forgiven for concluding that just about no one else in America had ever had any 'experience'."
But none of this should have been a great surprise.
Firstly, Obama always had a number of ex-Clinton staffers on board such as former National Security Adviser Anthony Lake and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Susan Rice.
Holder was an Obama campaign legal adviser and involved in the search for the candidate's running mate. Craig played John McCain for Obama's debate prep. After the primary season, Obama had no problem cherry-picking more Clinton advisers to add heft to his banks of on-call experts.
Secondly, with many and mounting problems, Obama does need people experienced in government, who - to tap a campaign phrase used against him - do not need on-the-job training. Obama's appointments largely fit with the shrewd, careful and pragmatic style of his campaign.
Even the 'grand gesture', as Politico put it, of Hillary Clinton at State fits with Obama's tendency to Think Big on occasion - whether that be big foreign tours, big speech venues or big Greek columns. And it's certainly pragmatic: as soon as Clinton agreed to play nice and rally her faithful she began racking up you-owe-me's.
There are other calculations: Hugging Hillary would also remove a - potential - roadblock in the Senate. And as Huffington Post commentator William Bradley wrote, Obama's move would "make it virtually impossible for Hillary to challenge him in 2012".
Clinton remains a gamble. She's tough, talented and has great contacts around the world, but her heightened standing for a Secretary of State could undercut Obama's own.
Thirdly, as many commentators have noted, Obama is trying to avoid early missteps made by the Carter and Clinton administrations. Rupert Cornwell in the Independent wrote: "The lesson of both Carter and Clinton administrations is that prior government experience is essential if a new White House team is to be effective.
In 1977, Jimmy Carter brought with him a so-called 'Georgia Mafia', superloyal to the new President, but which quickly antagonised the Democratic barons who then ran Capitol Hill. Something similar happened 16 years later when Bill Clinton arrived. Unlike Obama, he waited almost two months before making key White House staff appointments. When he finally did, many were old associates from Arkansas."
Finally, at a philosophical level, Obama clearly does not subscribe to the view that change can only be brought about by fresh, "untainted" faces.
His vice-presidential pick, Joe Biden, was the Democrats' leading foreign expert. Tom Daschle, a former Senate leader and early Obama booster, will reportedly oversee health reform.
Two Republican contenders, Chuck Hagel and Dick Lugar, are grey-haired mates of Obama's from the Senate.
The presence of Washington insiders such as Biden, Daschle and Emanuel is all about massaging Obama's agenda through Congress.
At one point, Democratic National Committee chief and former Vermont Governor Howard Dean was mentioned as a possibility for health. But Politico reported last week that "the chief attributes [Obama] is seeking in his [health] secretary will be an ability to work with members of Congress and shepherd reform legislation through the House and Senate".
Obama's picks show that he values competence and experience and his overriding criterion appears to be, "can this person get it done?" Or in other words, can they bring about actual change rather than simply represent the appearance of change?
The President-elect has been careful in the past week to talk up issues of importance to the left of his party, reaffirming his stance against torture and the Guantanamo Bay prison and his desire for the US to lead on climate change.
It's a reminder to miffed supporters that "these are changes you want". Attention will no doubt also be paid to diversity as the cabinet selection unfolds.
But Obama would also be aware that for the moderate centre of voters, there's a lot to already like about his emerging reassuring and experienced team.
Where Team Obama has perhaps been less than canny is in the news rollout of probable appointments.
With many positions to fill, there were always going to be opportunities to promote promising outsiders - but a step back from the frontline of State, Defence, Justice, Treasury and, probably for this Administration, Health, Education, Energy and climate change.
The early leaked appointments were mainly Clintonian and male. It took until Thursday for the first of the outsiders to emerge in contention for major roles: Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano for Homeland Security and businesswoman Penny Pritzker, who headed Obama's mammoth fundraising operation, for Commerce. Pritzker, a Hyatt heiress, yesterday took herself out of contention for, Politico reports, vetting issues.
By the end of the process, the selections will probably appear to be a fairly balanced blend of new and old hands.
Obama's first wave of change - his victory - was powerfully symbolic and rippled across the world.
His second wave is slower, heavier, prosaic. It will take much longer to break on an expectant country.
