mew writes: How far does Obama have to go before you feel he’s abandoned the goals of those who elected him? For some, it happened even before he was sworn in. For those like me, he’d need to do something so drastic I can’t even think of it. Where do you fall in that continuum?
my take on it is the same as i had during the election campaign
the parameters that the CEO of the american empire aka the president of the united states
has to maneuver in is so limited as to make any ideals a candidate might espouse while running for office irrelevant
as a candidate
president Obama ran as someone who transcended politics
or represented a post-political option
that’s the most stated reason he was preferred over his main democratic challenger
during the primary’s
but SURPRISE
it turns out being president is all about being political
in order to get even the most modest sensible policies implemented
you have to be manipulative
you have to be a horse trader
politics at that level
is simply the art of identifying whats possible
while neutralizing your political adversaries
that’s why progressive people
people with a sense of justice
people who think bombing ancient villages
with 21st century weaponry is unconscionable
people who don’t succumb easily
to cults of personality
should hold the president’s feet to the fire
constructive criticism is good
because in the end
change doesn’t come from the top
but from the grassroots
There’s so much to admire about President Obama’s executive style
substance is another matter
we the people must flesh out his policies for him
right wing obstructionism is so entrenched
& corrosive to any forward movement in this country
that the president seems a bit cowed by it
so it’s up to us to demand the change we were promised
without fear that we’ll be playing into the hands
of the president’s political enemies
let’s learn from the mistakes of Bill Clinton’s presidency
who ran a center-left campaign
& presided over a center-right administration
treating his adversaries much better than his friends