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While I am very happy to be able to say "President Elect Barack Obama" I also voted for him with my feet firmly planted on the earth. There has been nothing in his proposed policies and voting record to indicate that he represents the kind of change that his soaring rhetoric promised. There is a very real disconnect between his words and his actions.
This is not necessarily a bad thing in all issues, but it does portend that there will be some diminishment of the Obama brand as he moves forward with his presidency.
The issues where this is particularly true are in terms of civil liberties (FISA vote for example), health coverage (lack of strong movement toward universal and portable coverage), Israel, and a few other areas.
By contrast, the areas where Obama does seem capable of real change from the past eight years--I am taking pains to not include the B. Clinton years--is in foreign policy in general, which will be more multilateral and in the economy, which will be less neocon/libertarian and more in the vein of realistic and pragmatic regulation.
I except the B. Clinton years because despite running a primary campaign that claimed Clinton to be among the failed legacy of the Washington elite and establishment--Obama's policies in the areas of foreign affairs and the economy, campaign strategy, and actions are almost exactly the same as those of Clinton circa 1992. Yet another example of where his rhetoric does not match his actions.
