You do what you do because you are what you are

I'm actually a little sad to realize that what I'd suspected is true.  I was hoping that maybe - just maybe - Obama was at least pragmatic enough to want to find real solutions to problems and might be strong enough to stand up for them.  I wouldn't have bet money on it but I was hoping.  All doubt has been erased and his thin veneer of claiming to want "bipartisanship" is pretty much gone.  The liberal agenda is the be-all and end-all ... everything else be d***ed.  The liberal's idea of being bipartisan is "do it our way."  It's most obvious in the so-called stimulus bill but also in things like appointing a solidly  conservative Republican Senator (who really should have stayed in the Senate) to be Secretary of Commerce, and then almost immediately trying to usurp his position in regard to the national census.  Clearly, it is to be "politics as usual" after all.

Long before January 20th I was saying "Don't pay attention to what he says, watch what he does."  And beyond that, watch closely what those around him are doing.  It's like the work of an illusionist; you'll never figure out the trick if you watch him.  To have any chance of seeing reality you have to purposefully ignore what he's doing and concentrate on what's going on around, under, behind and beside him.  In Chicago, it's developed into an art form and the "fans" applaud the fraud for being so good at it.

I do think B.O. made the mistake of believing his own press and is probably more than a little shocked by the degree of opposition.  He seems to be still campaigning rather than actually leading and he can't figure out the difference.  Or perhaps it's because he thought Washington politics was the same as Chicago politics.  I'd be unable to give an extensive treatise  on either or give a point-by-point comparison but I have no doubt there are significant differences.  I lived in the Chicago area just long enough to recognize the stench of the Chicago style and, unfortunately, it wasn't limited to one party ... it ALL stunk.  I used to say something like "It may be that politics in Illinois is no more corrupt than anywhere else, it's just that they don't make much effort to cover it up."  I suspect that if the new President had been from anywhere else chances are good there would have been no recent change in governors.  In fact, when I first heard of "Blago's" troubles my immediate reaction was "Yeah - so?  It's Chicago."  With B.O. it may be a case of "You can take the boy (no racial implications intended- it's just part of the expression) out of Chicago but you can't take Chicago out of the boy."

I can't say I'm looking forward to it but I have no doubt the next few years will be very interesting.