Just...wow. As with 9/11, I find myself standing on the outside, watching the media and the public indulge in an orgy of emotion that I cannot comprehend.

He's a man. A politician. And one who has made it clear that he is more than willing to compromise away our Constitutional rights. So why is everyone talking as if this is the second coming?

I wish I could join in this riot of self-indulgent celebration. It must be fun. Unfortunately, I can't shut my eyes to reality.

When it turns out in the years to come that we're never getting our privacy or other civil liberties back, that Bush and Co. will never pay a price for their crimes, that the Republicans are the most powerful and dominant minority in the history of Congress (as they've already proved), and that the Democrats are as spineless and compromising as ever...saying "I told you so" will be cold comfort.

Wow, I thought that I was the only one who remembered Washingtoon. I thought that Stamaty was dead, or something! He's still writing it?

Eat the rich.

We don't have that $700 billion (or trillion, depending on how you look at it). We're in debt up to our eyeballs, remember?

That money will be borrowed, probably mainly from the Chinese government (if they're still willing to take the risk) via T-bills. So we'll be paying back far more than a trillion.

We've sold so much of our economy and industry to foreign owners that even when/if the economy recovers, it will never be the same. We're headed towards permanent second-world status, living at the whim of ultra-rich overlords from countries with absolutely no history of or respect for democracy, human rights, and civil liberties.

...has passed. An ironic bit of news today: Howard Dean is stepping down from the DNC, to be replaced by an Obama pick. You'd think he would have earned some thanks from Obama and the Democrats for his 50-state strategy, which undoubtedly helped the party enormously; not so. I have to wonder if Howard's old enemy Rahm Emmanuel (Obama's new Chief of Staff and a bitter opponent of the 50-state strategy) played a part in that decision.

At the same time, it is being reported that Obama is pushing Harry Reid and the Democrats to forgive Joe Lieberman and keep him in the caucus. This seems like suicidal madness, because Lieberman's chairmanships give him considerable oversight authority and investigative powers. He never used them against Bush, of course, but there's every reason to expect him to use them constantly against Obama.

Plus, of course, Joe did everything he can to help McCain and hurt the Democrats in the past year. His every waking moment in the campaign was to deliver a giant "f--k you" to the Democratic Party.

What does a guy have to do to be punished by the Democrats? Apparently, the only crime they'll punish is the crime of brilliantly saving their asses. Maybe if Lieberman had come up with the 50-state strategy they would have dumped him from the caucus...

The moment of sanity is over. Back to the status quo.

Obama, a person of courage and integrity? That doesn't jibe with what I've seen.

Time after time he's taken the cautious, measured, triangulating approach. And with his broken promise on the FISA filibuster and telecom amnesty, not to mention this inexplicable and seemingly self-destructive Lieberman capitulation - does he really think that Lieberman won't use the power of his chairmanships from day one to tear his administration apart? - Obama has proven that the only "change" we can expect from his administration is, if you'll pardon the expression, skin deep.

Whose progressive agenda? Obama is busily proving that he couldn't be less interested in enacting a liberal or progressive agenda. His appointments already show an even stronger move to the center-right, pro-business politics of the pre-Reagan Republican Party. Witness his figurative embrace of Joe Lieberman, Howard Dean's departure from the DNC, and the appointment of right-wing "Democrat" and bitter Dean opponent Rahm Emmanuel as Obama's Chief of Staff.

Mark my words: Democrats, at least those that haven't drunk the DLC Kool-Aid, will be bewailing the Obama Administration's remarkably Bush-like qualities within two years. His Supreme Court nominees will be far more conservative than almost anyone dreams at this point. Those appointees will likely put the final nail in Roe v. Wade and many other former Constitutional rights enjoyed by Americans.

Don't expect government to stop spying, torturing, or to restore habeas corpus. Government doesn't give back rights - the people have to TAKE them back. Obama's the last person in the world to be interested in bringing progressive values to America, because they oppose his interests and those of his wealthy corporate backers.

I hate playing Cassandra. It's a thankless role. Still, I'll put this here on the record so I can have the useless pleasure of saying "I told you so" in a couple of years - assuming, of course, that Salon survives the ongoing economic meltdown and that it isn't shut down for lèse-majesté by the ever-more-powerful government. Although given Joan Walsh's tendencies, I imagine it's more likely that Salon would be a wholly subservient, willing mouthpiece for the Administration.

Whenever I read something from a progressive trying to put a positive face on Obama's continuing and escalating series of dumps on the American left, I can't help but be reminded of the little boy who got a stocking full of manure for Christmas. Feeling around inside it, he announces that he thinks that Santa left him a pony but he just hasn't found it yet.

I'd like to feel positive about Brennan's defeat. Somehow, though, I suspect that there will be no shortage of torture-supporters and privacy-violators in the Obama Administration - starting, of course, with President "FISA pledge? What FISA pledge?" himself.

That stocking is really starting to stink, and I don't think there's any pony in there.