Monk

Obama Doesn't Really Have a Plan

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Going through the headlines, I see that one and it elicits a fair chuckle. Obama probably doesn't have a plan, at least not beyond trying to avoid making a clear flub. I still think he's tiptoeing through history and feels he can be content with being the first black American president and not being an embarrassment.

Right now, I wouldn't place a bet on who will win in 2012, whether it's Obama or whoever will be the Republican nominee. If Obama gets the nod, though, I'm thinking he can do a lot to redeem himself with respect to liberals, if he will feel freer to pursue liberal objectives, but that assumes that he is not genuinely interested in better pleasing the people who have all the money.

Maureen Dowd uses her column to do what all good liberals must be doing now, that is, to despair of Obama and his failure to rise to the challenge of Republican opposition. And I think she is particularly insightful and hits the mark when she speculates that a big part of the problem is that Obama still aspires to be part of the royally wealthy class, which may indeed be why he is so deferential to Wall Street and big corporations, rather than fighting them FDR-style. I think she has found the key to understanding Obama's soul. He wants to set up his family to be part of the true American aristocracy, and this is his real cause. Oh, yes you can!

( Dowd Excerpt )

Obama Pulls Back Plan to Tighten Air-Quality Rules

By JOHN M. BRODER

After intense lobbying by industry, the White House overruled a plan by the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce emissions of smog-causing chemicals.

-- NYT's headline

That sounds like our Obama. See, Rick Perry could do that just as well. I understand that Obama's heart is presumably in the right place, but what difference does it make if they always wind up in the same position, stiffing the poor and the weak and the environment in favor of the wealthy and the powerful?