"The Obama Delusion"

From The Washington Post...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/19/AR2008021902336.html

"It's hard not to be dazzled by Barack Obama. At the 2004 Democratic convention, he visited with Newsweek reporters and editors, including me. I came away deeply impressed by his intelligence, his forceful language and his apparent willingness to take positions that seemed to rise above narrow partisanship. Obama has become the Democratic presidential front-runner precisely because countless millions have formed a similar opinion. It is, I now think, mistaken."

<snip>

"The subtext of Obama's campaign is that his own life narrative -- to become the first African American president, a huge milestone in the nation's journey from slavery -- can serve as a metaphor for other political stalemates. Great impasses can be broken with sufficient goodwill, intelligence and energy. "It's not about rich versus poor; young versus old; and it is not about black versus white," he says. Along with millions of others, I find this a powerful appeal.
But on inspection, the metaphor is a mirage. Repudiating racism is not a magic cure-all for the nation's ills. The task requires independent ideas, and Obama has few. If you examine his agenda, it is completely ordinary, highly partisan, not candid and mostly unresponsive to many pressing national problems.

By Obama's own moral standards, Obama fails. Americans "are tired of hearing promises made and 10-point plans proposed in the heat of a campaign only to have nothing change," he recently said. Shortly thereafter he outlined an economic plan of at least 12 points..."

<snip>

"A favorite Obama line is that he will tell "the American people not just what they want to hear but what we need to know." Well, he hasn't so far."

and as his writings indicate, is generally terrified of change. He tends to think we're in too much of a tizzy about global warming, for example.

Methinks the delusion lies elsewhere....

I did not know it had already been
posted. The delusion does lie elsewhere..
and it ain't here.

Many anal meatus, abscessed puss pockets around DU.

Thank You for the fine post. I am glad to see the kool-aide aroma is finally dissipating.

that dem voters don't give a fig what he says. He's simply another journo who's drifted solidly to the right over the years. His opinion won't sway anyone.