Tuesday at a breakfast with progressive media types, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi scoffed at a report that the White House was uncomfortable with how quickly the stimulus bill made its way through Congress:

"Let me get this straight," she said. "You're the president of the United States; you have a recovery package that you want done by the president's break; we get that done -- and we 'fast tracked it over the president's objections'? It couldn't be farther from the truth."

Put simply, President Obama is in a hurry. A big hurry. Not only with the way he demanded Congress pass the stimulus bill, but also with his desire to enact the sweeping changes across major sectors of American life he outlined in his first address to Congress.

Contrast Obama's opening salvo with another young president who took office amid turbulent times both at home and abroad. On January 30, 1961, this is how John F. Kennedy began his first speech to Congress:

I speak today in an hour of national peril and national opportunity. Before my term has ended, we shall have to test anew whether a nation organized and governed such as ours can endure. The outcome is by no means certain. The answers are by no means clear. All of us together--this Administration, this Congress, this nation-must forge those answers.

But today, were I to offer--after little more than a week in office--detailed legislation to remedy every national ill, the Congress would rightly wonder whether the desire for speed had replaced the duty of responsibility.

Kennedy offered this strikingly prudent tone despite the fact that his Democratic party held even larger majorities in the House (263 seats) and the Senate (64 seats) than Obama's party holds today (233 seats in the House and 58 in the Senate). Obama, on the other hand, went before Congress after one month on the job and unveiled a list of promises to transform American healthcare, energy, education, etc.

In his address, Kennedy went on to tell Congress that "the prudent heir takes careful inventory of his legacies and gives a faithful accounting to those whom he owes an obligation of trust."  Kennedy said America's greatest asset was the ability of its people, through the leadership of its representatives, to "face all problems frankly and meet all dangers free from panic or fear."

Again, contrast this with President Obama who, after running for two years as a "hopemonger," has received criticism from across the political spectrum for feeding the public a fairly steady diet of fear in his first few weeks in office that has been offset by far too little hope and optimism.

Much has been made of the similarities between Obama and Kennedy: both young, ambitious, charismatic, good looking; both excellent politicians and exceptionally gifted speakers.

But not nearly as much has been made of their differences.  Though he took office at the age of 43, four years younger than Obama is now, by the time Kennedy arrived at the White House he'd already served four years in the military, six years in the House of Representatives, and eight years in the United States Senate.

The wealth of those experiences may have far more to do with Kennedy's sober and deliberative approach upon taking office than the politics of the moment, just as Obama's background and experience may help explain why he appears to be in such a rush to push through an expansive, transformational agenda.