"What Do We See in Obama?"

Gary Younge (The Nation):

Obama is no mere passive recipient in this process. While he does not control it, he has at times tried to leverage and game it. Rhetorically, at least, he projected a far more dynamic, idealistic and populist campaign than the one he was really running. But when it came to matters of substance, far from raising expectations too high, he set them quite low. Some of his first actions in office at a time of war and economic crisis were to keep Bush’s defense secretary, reinstate Bill Clinton’s economic team and put in a banker at the Treasury.

The man is not a radical. He never was. Nor did he say he was, though he was happy for some to think he might be. If he had been, he would never have won. A winner-take-all voting system where both parties are corporately financed, Congressional districts are openly gerrymandered and 40 percent of the upper chamber can block anything is no vehicle for radical reform. Nor is the presidency.

This doesn’t mean there’s no difference between Obama and his Republican opponents. It means we should not make excuses for him. He’s the best that could be elected last time, and this time. And that’s the problem. MORE...