The enigma that is Barack Obama grows day by day. Contradiction after contradiction, abrupt gear shifts, perpetual motion that never reaches a destination. 'Obscene' Wall Street bonuses suddenly transmute into well earned rewards for a good guy golfing buddy; the imperative to act boldly on the jobs crisis means placing it the callous hands of Max Baucus and Chuck Grassley of health care fame; the plotting of exit strategies from Afghanistan by 2011 becomes a 'long as we have to' occupation. All these contrapuntal reversals against a sound track of non-stop exhortation and a restless shuttling from one photo-op to another. Who is this guy, anyway?

A few elements of Obama's personality are now evident: a strong narcissistic streak, an ingrained sense of superiority, a nimbleness – intellectual and political – enabled by the incredible lightness of his conviction about anything, an audacious ambition yet no gumption for a fight. Behind these traits, there is something even more basic discernible. Obama is two people, one superimposed on the other. The visible, surface man is the epitome of an enlightened, Ivy League, socially responsible liberal. This is Obama the community organizer (albeit an exceptionally non-confrontational one), Obama the African American political activist who attends Jeremiah Wright's cosmopolitan church, Obama the orator who routinely hits the high 'Cs' of the call to conscience, Obama the optimist who appeals to, and for the better angels of our idealistic American selves. This is Obama the African-American who moved enough voters to be elected President of the United States.

To this portrait, we must juxtapose the other Barack Obama – the Barack Obama who has surfaced as he quickly shed his 'liberal' skin amidst the trappings of the White House. This other personality, I contend, is the underlying one – truer to the man's core nature. This is the Obama who twice in his young career sought out positions in big corporate law firms; this is the Obama who was raised by three Kansans who instilled in him conservative heartland values; this is the Obama who relishes wealth and what it can buy; this is the Obama who feels more at ease with his Wall Street buddies (Jaime Dimon, et al) playing golf than with anyone of the Move On American crowd; this is the Obama who chose as his trusted confidant that unscrupulous, liberals-be-damned fixer – Rahm Emanuel; this is the Obama who absorbed the spirit of Ronald Reagan's America he himself has said stands as the model of inspirational leadership.

Far-fetched? Let's take a clear eyed look at what President Obama actually has done and said. He placed his supposedly signature health care reform initiative in the hands of those dedicated to thwarting it, he has curried favor with the criminally incompetent financial establishment, he orphaned the proposal to help underwater homeowners through the bankruptcy courts, he stiffed the trade unions on the loosening of rules for organizing workers, he has retained all of Bush's policies on surveillance, he has refused the slightest chastisement of the CIA and their mercenaries, he has retained Bush's practice of Executive statements interpreting legislation, he has followed a behind closed doors style of policy-making, he has followed the Pentagon hawks in escalating the war in Afghanistan, he has made repeated advances toward the evangelical right. This is the behavioral pattern of a deeply conservative personality and conventional thinker who tips his hat to every establishment he encounters.

The evidence supports my thesis that this latter Obama is the truer personality, and that it has liberated itself now that the man is at the apex of his achieved ambition. There is, of course, a more prosaic explanation of Obama's repudiation of the ideas and outlook that won him the White House. It argues that his about faces and incongruous acts merely reflect practical political calculations. That argument does not stand up to scrutiny, though. First, Obama's conduct in the White House has severely weakened his political position to the point where he managed to resuscitate a moribund Republican Party while putting at risk reelection of the Democratic Congress and himself. Second, Obama initiated most of these reversals in the early months of his administration when he was still riding high in the polls and had every opportunity to take the initiative.

The unhappy conclusion is that we have in Obama a President who is what we used to call a moderate Republican before the species became extinct. Moreover, someone who is very much a man of his times – those times being the 1980s and 1990s. That means suspicions of government programs (last week Obama declared that New Deal thinking wasn't applicable to day's problems), a strong belief that we should always give private interests the benefit of the doubt, an assumption that the rich deserve their riches, and an insensitivity to the plight of salaried Americans (Obama's push for a Bipartisan Commission to recommend budget cutting measures to be voted 'up or down' by Congress clearly had Social Security in its sights). Abroad, Obama is ready to deploy military might in dubious causes defined by the country's hawkish defense establishment.

The implication for progressives? Let Barack Obama know in no unspoken terms that if he wants to revel in the White House for a full eight years he has to garb himself in that old liberal persona.

America VS President Obama
Perhaps the American people should run the country and do away with the Federal gov altogether. Ditch the constitution and do whatever makes you feel good, How about that for getting him out of your hair? Why do you people continually overlook the cause of so much drifting and inactive garbage? Whenever something doesn't go your way it's the Presidents fault, what about what he has asked of congress that they still won't even touch the REQUESTS, mind you I did not say ORDERS. I say the ones who are belly-aching the most are just like the Republicans they don't want anything to get better unless it's their idea and their way. I'm beginning to believe that no one wants progress; I think they would rather just remain stagnant and grind their selves into the ground then blame it on Obama. If he hadn't run for Pres. and won, we wouldn't be in this position right? I'll answer that, no, you probably wouldn't even be alive by the time prissy-miss got thru bombing Iran and firing anybody that said something she didn't like. With Mac standing on the sideline scratching his head wondering how to get her off the microphone. He was for the war and she obviously doesn't have a problem starting another one so where would you be? Most likely without a job and with a gun in your hand shooting at Iranians or whoever it is she wants to go to war with, doesn't matter, she's out of her mind anyway.

I'm getting real tired of the finger pointing exercises going on and most of the time in the wrong direction. You only want to blame him, because he is WHAT he is, not because he is so wrong. I see no one, neither political party, nor any citizen who has yet to come forward and present a SOLUTION out of this bog we are in. Lots of hair brained ideas, but no solutions, just complaints. The wheels were already turning backwards toward this pit before he even considered running for President, thanks to GW and you are now so ready to attack him. Bush didn't listen to you when you wanted him too end the war, he didn't listen to you when you said you didn't want the bail-out scam, he did exactly what Cheney wanted him to do so why all the fuss now? Oh I forgot he is not the same “kind” as our current Pres. In essence what you're saying is, it's alright for a white man to ruin our country but you will not tolerate a black man coming in and telling any of you how things should be and what to do to get us back on track, because in your mind has no right to try to tell you what is wrong with your government and how to improve on it. After all most of them (blacks-bi-racial)are on welfare or pushing drugs anyway what would they know about running the country right?. He has taken all of your freedom away, he has taken your jobs away, he has destroyed America, he bows to too many foreign counterparts, He says things that you don't like, he pretends to love America, he is a thug, he is a liar, he won't show you his birth cert, he won't tell you what his grades were in College, he won't do this or that because you want him to. How about asking Congress to do something? Since when did it become your business about any Pres.' College credentials or BC? This has never, in the history of the US, been an issue but again, because he is WHAT he is you demand to know. This will set the stage to seek other ways to get rid of him even when all of your schizophrenic notions prove to be unfounded. You people use anything you can think of to deny that America is not the America you fantasize in your dizzy heads and never will be again, not because we have a bi-racial President, but because the entire world is changing can't you get that thru your thick skulls? Nothing in this life remains the same; you all should know that because you personally don't remain the same. Your own principles change as you, hopefully, mature. You would probably commit suicide if you only knew what the rest of the world thinks about Americans and how arrogant we are. The way most Americans toss their haughtiness around is really funny to them because they know it's all a front. The way of the boastful American is very empty and demeaning to the human race. It's as though no other human being is as good as they are, and no other human being has the right to the same things they do ; life, wealth, education, expensive living modes, power the whole gamut, not recognizing that there are people in other countries who have equal and more than they do. Granted the wealthy segment of other societies got theirs the same way off the sweat of someone else or stolen i.e.: (MADDOFF- BANKS-BROKERS-INSURANCE CO's- CORPORATIONS). Congress falls in the same category because without our “payments” to IRS they wouldn't be able to give themselves the outrageous raises they so thoughtlessly legislate. But to Americans that's OK because that's the way the game is played and until almost everyone was affected by the meltdown it was overlooked as a way of life.
To end my tirade, I will conclude that today's America is disgusting. The financial infrastructure is weak and fraught with greed and theft. That's why there are no jobs, and over 5M homes sit vacant, children and senior citizens starving, educational systems are a joke (NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND) what the fence? People are dying because an Insurance company controls your destiny, among so many other issues that need to be addressed. One thing white America overlooks constantly is that Blacks rarely seek positions for money and power. They have survived a life-time without it and their goal is to make a better life for all. But Whites don't want that, at least not from a black man, that's backwards the white man is to give to the black man so that he may retain control over what he does and how he thinks. Having said that brings me to the real issue of the struggle between America and President Obama. Knowing how whites have “operated” for so many hundreds of years , they are afraid all of those misdeeds of yesteryear and today may be coming back to haunt them and that cannot be, that was always the fear of the white slave owners “what if they rebel and overtake us???????” “WHAT IF?” And that's just where we are today What if. It's a little late for what ifs so my last question is How can? How can Americans forget the arrogance and how to use people for personal gain and work towards a better America for everyone?

source

Underscoring the very real threat that remains of an American war against Iran, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs today declared that the Obama Administration will not rule out attacking Iran over its decision to enrich uranium to 20 percent.

Gibbs accused Iran of repeatedly refusing administration offers of diplomatic negotiations, declaring this was proof that the Iranian nuclear program is not for civilian purposes.

In fact, Iran and the United States did take part in diplomatic negotiations in October, resulting in the draft enrichment deal. Iran also offered additional talks in November and December related to the deal, but were rebuffed and condemned by officials for the proposed talks.

Far from refusing to make agreements with the West related to its nuclear program, Iran actually accepted the draft enrichment deal earlier this month, as repeatedly demanded by the Obama Administration. The acceptance too was roundly condemned by Western officials, though mysteriously many have continued to demand that Iran accept the deal for weeks since the acceptance was already made.