I used to think as you do but now I’m less convinced that Obama’s core beliefs extend beyond himself and the “legacy” that he will leave. He’s much more the childish narcissist than the Leftist Messiah.

The thing about Obama is that he’s actually being a President. He’s definitely directing the policies that come out of Congress, but he’s still letting the legislature do the ugly business that they are supposed to do: legislate. And as we’re seeing now with the health care bill, it’s ugly as sin. What will the final product look like? Remains to be seen. Will it please everyone? Certainly not. Is that a good thing? It very well might be. In the same way that history only makes sense after it’s written, not during, we can only speculate that the bill will be good or that it will make things worse than we have it now (I don’t see that happening, though). Anyone who expected it to be perfect in the first place doesn’t know anything about politics or just lives in a dreamworld. And anyone who voted for Obama expecting him to be the liberal Bush (that is, a liberal Decider) clearly wasn’t listening to Obama during the campaign and was one of those people that the Right love to make fun of: those who thought of Obama as the savior – you know, the lady that they always showed saying that she won’t have to worry about anything anymore.

Regardless, Jonolan, you do have a point about the Democrats being the reason that he might not get reelected, but I also agree with BookGuy that it’s far too early to be denouncing his presidency as a failure less than a year in. His approval rating amongst Republicans was never high so of course his drop had to come from Democrats. And the Democratic Party has shown that it’s not so liberal as some thought it to be. But then again, Obama is far from the bleeding-heart liberal that the Right paints him to be, too.

All that aside though, it’s the Liberals’ growing complaints that I believe will be his downfall insofar as his legacy and memory are concerned. Somehow I just don’t think Obama is going to “find himself on the right side of history.”

Do the Dems seem to spend more time shooting themselves than the Republicans? Yeah. And that’ll be their downfall. But let’s not jump to final conclusions before the end of the first year.

Between the IMF and the WB, these selected and elite individuals control the financial destiny of this country and the world as well. Let’s not forget these international robber barons who backed both sides of the WWI.

My point is this: no matter whose elected, the economic destiny of this country is pre-designed to be ruled by the oligarchy–this surpasses the government that we see in the public (Democrats, Republican, Independent, etc…)–the puppets of passivisity.

As for Palin – she resonates with a huge number of Americans, myself included. Largely this is because the “elites” with their vaunted educations haven’t been serving the needs of we, the People in quite a while. For some of us a track record of actual political reform and basic common sense values count for more than a degree or two.

Is Palin a viable political candidate? You betcha! Would she be bad for America? No worse than Obama if she has GOP Congress and less so if she has a Dem one.

As for lies – If you support Obama at all, you’d best talk softly about lies,half-truths, misdirections, and the twisting of facts. He’s the past master of those rhetorical feats – otherwise you wouldn’t be in your current quandary.

As for hypocrisy – I’d say the two parties are tied on that score. Again, if they weren’t you wouldn’t be in your current quandary.