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None of the partisans are going to be pleased about Obama’s appointments and conduct in office it seems. Like many who assume the mantle of power, Obama has developed fondness for it and the only way to maintain it is to assure that his leadership will be seen as a success. This is more or less a matter of managed expectations and the garnering of low risk accomplishments.
The liberal left will soon go apoplectic over the tenor and tone of the Obama administration as it proceeds with middle of the road economic ideas that will have nothing to do with addressing the historic inequality of wealth in the nation while it conducts a foreign policy that takes a rational approach to the threats America faces and seeks to meet those in the traditional way with force and determination to preserve America's position in the world.
Oh, perhaps there may be some change in emphasis and occasional lip service to the ideals on which Obama ran. But overall he is going to be a centrist and will seem a lot more like Ronald Reagan than George McGovern (or even Jimmy Carter) in the White House.
The folks on the right will be given little at which to hurl their potshots and they may grow frustrated keeping their powder dry and holding their brick bats. It seems they were deceived like the rest of us.
It cannot be gainsaid that Obama ran a sort of "in code" campaign that seemed to be winking at the left that that he just needed to get into office and then he would promulgate their agenda. But it is a failed agenda that makes little macro-economic sense and in its implementation is often the victim of the law of unexpected consequences, so Obama will treat much of the progressive agenda as radioactive in a quest to be "a success".
This will mean no raising taxes on "the rich", no massive shift to eco-friendly government policy or the forced proscription of a green agenda, no anti-democratic measures to aid labor unions, and, finally, no precipitous end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Expect Mr. Obama to launch a very strong signal to the Russians and their newest client state, Venezuela, early in his administration.
He may just wind up being a very useful guy indeed!
