What happened to the inspirational figure his supporters thought they elected? Who is this bland, timid guy who doesn’t seem to stand for anything in particular?
Au contraire. Obama fought ferociously hard to give the big banks whatever they want, whether that be huge bailouts, changing the accounting rules for them and them alone, allowing them to pay themselves huge bonuses, and making sure they can borrow from the government at a tiny interest rate then “re-invest” that by buying government bonds, guaranteeing a risk-free profit. He has also without fail continued the military adventurisn of George Bush, cut back on civil liberties, and done nothing to stop torture by the US.
He has a backbone of steel when it comes to these policies. So no, he hasn’t changed at all. Rather, he pretended to be something he was not during the election.
I don’t know that Obama was the one pretending during the campaign. It seems like it was liberals and progressives who pretended that he was something other than a shill for the ruling corporatist class the whole time. Arguably, as the candidate for the Democratic party, he literally could not be anything else.
However, he didn’t do much to allay any misperceptions that voters may have had about him. And has acted precisely opposite of many of his campaign pledges.
“he pretended to be something he was not during the election.” Isn’t that what all politicians do to get elected? It’s the system friend, it’s the system, all theatre, to give the public the impression that we live in a democracy. Elections give the corporate world control of the levers of power and also gives them the stamp of legitimacy. Our so called democracy is the biggest illusion ever created, no way will the corporate world get rid of this so called system of democracy, it works wonderfully, — for them.
Well, Dubya didn’t pretend to be anything he wasn’t…