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When Hope Meets Reality.
Paul Waldman explains that Obama's rhetorical skills do not make him omnipotent:
"We campaign in poetry. But when we're elected we're forced to govern in prose," said Mario Cuomo, then-governor of New York, in a 1985 speech. "And when we govern -- as distinguished from when we campaign -- we come to understand the difference between a speech and a statute. It's here that the noble aspirations, neat promises and slogans of a campaign get bent out of recognition or even break as you try to nail them down to the Procrustean bed of reality."
The man then hailed as the Democratic Party's greatest orator knew what he was talking about. And there is no doubt that the party's current lead orator, Barack Obama, has understood this truth all along. But those swept up in the oratory still seem to need occasional reminding of this reality. As health-care reform teeters between success and failure, the economy limps along, and more and more Americans wonder what we're doing in Afghanistan, the prose of governing is more than a little unsettling for some.
COMMENTS (1)
But it isn't just about youth; it's about everyone who was moved by what will probably end up being the most inspiring presidential campaign of their lifetime.
Hell no! Bill Clintons' campaigns still have Obama's beat in that regard.
Obama ran the most negative, divisive, sexist, homophobic, race-baiting, ageist, presidential campaign I have ever witnessed.
You're confusing the myth of the Chris Matthews narrative with the ugly, and I mean ugly(!) truth.
What we're seeing now is simply the unmasking of the lies that Obama told.
Quite enjoyable watching the Obamabots squirm though; of course, knowing that Obama's weak governance will have disastrous results lessens that pleasure.
Another nice try at letting BO off the hook though!
Posted by: fh | November 17, 2009 10:41 AM