November 4, 2009 5:36 AM

What a difference a year makes, eh?

How did the candidate who got into the race because he'd decided that "the core leadership had turned rotten" and that "the people were getting hosed" become the president who has decided that the American people can only have as much change as Olympia Snowe will allow? How did the candidate who told a stadium of supporters in Denver that "the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result" become the president who has surrounded himself with the same old players trying the same old politics, expecting a different result?

It was only a year ago that Barack Obama won an election, one that those of us on the Left were sure was destined to free us from the incompetence, ineptitude, and corruption of the prior eight years. It was an evening of optimism and hope. Things were going to change. Things were going to be different. Things were going to be...oh, well, never mind. Hope may be a wonderful thing, but reality generally sucks.

Election Day, 2008, was my last day in Houston after spending the previous two months working there after Hurricane Ike. I went to an election celebration at Space Center Houston sponsored by the Harris County Democratic party, and it was truly a celebration. Everyone there felt a sense of hope and anticipation. Finally, after eight years The Worst President EVER ©, we were on our way to taking our country back. Finally, we had hope, leadership, commitment, and...most exciting of all...vision for the future. What's happened since January 20th has certainly demonstrated what can happen when promises meet reality...and when principled leadership caves to a vocal, organized minority. It would seem that Republicans have Barack Obama's balls in a Mason jar.

Of course, I realize that governing- especially, in bloated, archaic official Washington- has got to be a lot more difficult from the inside than it appears from here in the cheap seats. What seems so easy may not in fact actually be anything close. Then again, there are promises that should be very simple to keep- eliminating "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", f'rinstance- that have seemingly gone by the boards. I still desperately want, as a committed Liberal/Progressive, to believe that the agenda put forward during Obama's campaign will eventually be the agenda we see advanced during Obama's presidency. I'm trying to be optimistic...but then I look around, and see the wavering and the backpedaling and the lack of political courage and resolve...and it just makes me ill. After eight years of BushWorld corruption and ineptitude, I find myself wondering, "Is this as good as it gets?" Are we to be saddled with a leader who gives great speeches, but lacks the backbone to force his agenda past the republican MINORITY?

I hope that there's still time for the optimism and the...well, hope...that I and so many felt during the 2008 campaign to reappear. No serious person believes that Barack Obama is going to lead us to the promise land, but I'm still looking for the "change we can believe in". I'm just hoping that my faith and hope haven't been misplaced.

IS this as good as it gets??

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on November 4, 2009 5:36 AM.

Don't let this happen to you.... was the previous entry in this blog.

So maybe I'll be buying that Hummer after all.... is the next entry in this blog.

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