Mitch, although a mere shadow of itself did cross the peninsula eventually ( Naples area) over a week after it made landfall and reaped havoc in C.A. But the point is it did go north and NE eventually.
However the comparisom to Mitch is not otherwise inappropriate.
This system is now involving a huge area under its circulation and the wrapping of the moisutre east of the center should take only a matter of hours now...look for rapid intensification on Tuesday, then it will begin to assert itself on the surrounding environment a little more and we should see more consistency in the forecast models I think.