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We have to confront a painful question about our President. Many of us were convinced that he would be very different from his predecessor in matters of civil liberties. He is not. The distance between our expectations and reality is a failure that must be explained. So what happened? Is it:
(a) we mislead ourselves -- that is, we heard what we wanted to hear, but Obama's deeds match his campaign rhetoric.
(b) we were mislead by Obama -- that is, that Obama said one thing and is doing another. This option has two sub-parts: did he (i) mean it when he said it, but change his mind when confronted by the pressures of Keeping Us Safe, or (ii) was it a con from the getgo?
(c) Obama is not actually in charge -- that is, he wants to do the right thing, but dark, invisible forces compel these awful things.
(d) ?
My gut says mostly (b), but I am open to other theories. And I don't have enough evidence to know which sub-part applies. But how we approach politics from here depends on how we answer this question.
