I’ve probably gone a little easier on Obama than some of my peers — not so much because I think he’s doing a great job, but because I have a certain amount of empathy (possibly too much) for anyone trying to run a country this steeped in nutballery. The real problems with American politics are systemic. But even with my very low expectations, I’m kind of amazed by Obama’s caution-to-the-point-of-recklessness. The contrast between Obama the campaigner and Obama the cold-fish prez have grown so stark, he’s looking highly disingenuous — and in politics, that’s a big risk. You’d think someone so risk-averse might start to worry about that.
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The contrast between Obama the campaigner (and U.S. Senator and Illinois State Senator and “community organizer”) and Obama the President is that in the former roles he pretty much got away with talking about what should be done. Now he actually has to do something. Which, it turns out (as widely predicted), he’s not so good at.
The debate about the debt limit is going to be interesting. He talked a good game about what a bad idea it was to raise it when he was Senator. Now the shoe’s on the other foot. I can’t wait how he’s going to reconcile his earlier statements with what his base wants him to do now.
I’m not convinced that this is true. It seems more and more likely, as time passes, that he is doing exactly what he wants to do. The problem is that his goals aren’t what many of us hoped they would be. Granted, that hope was always a stretch.
I think that his main goal for this term has been to get elected to a second term and to have his name attached to a big piece of legislation. He’s accomplished one and, I’m guessing, believes that will lead to the other. I’ll admit that I’m completely wrong about this if he doesn’t fight the GOP over funding for HCR.
It looks like Glenn Greenwald has the same opinion that I do.