By the middle of March four years ago, we were deep into Barack Obama’s first hundred days. By then, even those of us who never expected much – because we paid attention to his campaign, and because the shape of things to come was evident from his very first appointments — were already disappointed. A Clintonite Restoration was underway; there would not even be cosmetic changes.
Obamamania had a longer shelf life, but it too was beginning to fade. By late summer, it was already turning rancid.
As term two gets underway, only the most deluded Democrats expect anything good to come from the first hundred days, or from the next three and three-quarters years. Therefore the good news is that there will be less disappointment this time around.
The bad news is that, although Obamamania is ancient history, alarmingly many former Obamamaniacs are still in denial.
This is why there is not more outrage over Obama’s drone driven state terrorism or his efforts to expand America’s perpetual war regime, and why it took a Tea Party Senator, Rand Paul, to focus public attention on the dangers Obama’s policies pose.
It is also why the public tolerates the impunity Obama accords too big to charge, much less imprison, financial criminals, and why he gets a pass on doing Wall Street’s bidding. Muckety-mucks in the Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and at Treasury have much to answer for too, but the buck stops just where Harry Truman said it did.
And it is why hardly anyone still cares that Obama protects Bush era war criminals or that he continues their work.
A reason not to despair four years ago was that Obama had announced his intention to close Guantanamo; a reason to despair now is that Guantanamo is still going strong and that instead of imprisoning people Bush-style, without due process, Obama just has them killed.
On the flimsiest of national security pretexts, he undermines basic rights and liberties, and treats international law with a scofflaw’s contempt.
And although he talks a good earful about “transparency,” he is among its greatest enemies: witness Bradley Manning and some half dozen others whom his administration has prosecuted, and his on-going attack on WikiLeaks.
And yet liberals cut him slack. They blame Republicans and persist in thinking that, despite it all, Obama remains a “good guy.” Republicans excel at obstructionism; Democrats are even better at deceiving themselves.
In all likelihood, it will soon get even worse….
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