Friday, August 28, 2009
Paraphrasing Stephen Colbert: Obama - big disappointment, or the biggest disappointment?
OK, as far as I'm concerned, Obama is pretty much what I expected. But it should be obvious that many of those who supported him must be getting more and more shell-shocked by the degree to which Obama represents not any kind of change, but continuity with the Bush administration. I was prompted to write this by today's news that the Obama administration will be continuing the Bush policy of allowing the government to search — without suspicion of wrongdoing — the contents of a traveler's laptop computer, cell phone or other electronic device when they enter the U.S.
It's hardly the most egregious of Obama's policies which continue those of Bush, just one more in a long, long list. But it prompts me to think - is it possible that Obama is turning out to be the biggest disappointment to those who supported him of any U.S. President in history? The one who is the least liberal after leading people to think he was liberal, or (considering other Presidents), the least conservative after leading people to think he was very conservative? I think it is possible, but the bias of temporal proximity is an obvious problem, so I throw the question open to readers. Has any previous President been less what his supporters expected him to be than Barack Obama?
