tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35548108.post7066123393465892502..comments2009-09-21T14:30:19.426-07:00Ewenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09689810005271277190noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35548108.post-84962300441706829092009-09-21T14:30:19.426-07:002009-09-21T14:30:19.426-07:00Thanks for posting Matt; good to hear your thoughts.<br /><br />My argument here was about the latitude afforded Obama by, specifically, the liberal press. Not his record per se.<br /><br />However, on that score, I certainly don&#39;t have any &quot;expectation he would be able to do such a thing&quot;. On the contrary. As merely the temporary frontman for the US, he has no intention/power to whatsoever.<br /><br />By no means do I think Obama has made no commendable progress/decisions at all. There are positive signs here and there.<br /><br />But, as i have said elsewhere, Obama, a marginally less acquiescent Bush, is much like a stall-dresser at a village market taking place in front of a gargantuan castle.<br /><br />A bit of fluffing and rearranging of the bric-a-brac on display is his remit - while the monstrous gates behind remain silent, impassive, and firmly locked.<br /><br />Obama&#39;s lip-service to progress actually makes him more dangerous than Bush - and certainly more deserving of scrutiny.<br /><br />Ultimately the issue is not the public face, but the human rights-violating machine chugging ruthlessly along behind, as ever.<br /><br />As for satirisation(s), again, I was focusing on those issuing from the left/liberal press - where Obama is given a free pass. And, specifically, the UK press.<br /><br />Regarding the freezing of settlements, as far as i know, the latest is simply a begrudging Israeli announcement that they would &quot;consider&quot; a &quot;temporary freeze&quot;.<br /><br />As we know, the US has no interest in furthering the &quot;peace process&quot; in the Middle East.<br /><br />Obama&#39;s silence over Gaza, for example, spoke volumes.Ewenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09689810005271277190noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35548108.post-68182894415482476672009-09-20T03:24:17.375-07:002009-09-20T03:24:17.375-07:00hang on ewen, i take some of your points there (particularly on afghanistan), but there has to be an injection of political reality at some point surely - look at the amount of shit obama is currently taking on decisions as small as suspending israeli settlements, abandoning the star wars project in eastern europe and, as you rightly point out, modest public provision of health care. How earth do you expect him to be able to make the u-turns on 70 years of US foreign policy that you castigate him for failing to perform? Even he wanted to fulfil the check list you&#39;ve set out for him (and i agree, he is far more a moderate that many of the left, including myself, hoped he would be), there is absolutely no way he would be able to in the teeth of such lunatic opposition (http://bit.ly/cmRik), and i can&#39;t help feeling that your expectation that he would be able to do such a thing grants him the very same &#39;messianic status&#39; you rightly decry.<br /><br />Also, this statement: &#39;Public satirisation, however rudimentary, of Obama&#39;s political creed has been almost entirely absent since his &quot;historic&quot; accession: that astonishingly a-critical fanfare&#39; is patently untrue. How many presidents can you think of whose right to be president has been so openly brought into question (particuarly ironic after 8 years of a president who really didn&#39;t have a electoral right to hold the post!), who has been subject to images of them dressed as hitler/african tribesman, and who has been heckled in congress?Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10254884110844561873noreply@blogger.com