AMTAF wrote this excellent analysis in the comment section that I believe should be here for all to read.

Politics is a lovely game of give and take. Obama took and now it’s time to give back. And I am not speaking of the millions who donated to his campaign, but the powerful lobbies who can ensure he remains in office.

What did most expect? Actions speak louder than words Fact: Obama in his 4-year career in the Senate voted almost 98% of the time in line with his party. Now regardless of what spin one might put to that, it remains that does not indicate a man with a vision but one who tows the line.

Don’t get me wrong. I did want Obama to win (as I mentioned in Aya’s post on election day) this election only because he was a better candidate that McCain-with-Palin and not McCain-without-Palin.

America is now caught in a wave of conviction of powerful president with a vision who will erase the last eight years magically so that they may now enter a new age. I’ve to laugh sometimes when listening to most ‘experts’ and political ‘pundits’. The American president does not possess as much power as most believe.

So here is where I come in… only temporarily.

I know my duty to my American friends. Name: A., Identity: British, Sole purpose: provide olde worlde curios, with a smile and charm (much like a trained monkey dressed as a court jester – that’s what they call being “Greece to America’s Rome”) reminding the audience of the quainter side of the Atlantic. So you can expect me to keep you updated with titbits from the motherland.

Ten years ago, a messianic forty-something man with a young family and more brash wife, the centre of a Cult of Personality whose fervent Christian faith found its expression in calls for social justice, who claimed to be on the Centre-Left but was such a media baby that one was never sure what was spin and what was substance, was swept to power in a wave of national adulation. He vowed that his administration would be the breath of fresh air in the capital city that banished the political elite’s casual corruption and instead would be “whiter than white”. Yet ten years later, the man who made us believe that conviction politicians existed has turned the public into a population to whom the word politician means “corrupt liar”. It’s not just Iraq that has baptised the Prime Minister “Bliar” – it’s still entirely plausible to believe, as I do, that Blair searched his soul and did what he believed right – but the constant allegations that donations to the Labour Party resulted in peerages, contracts and even legal exemptions being granted to the donors.

There is no country now more convinced than America that conviction-politicians can be saints. On the morning of Blair’s victory in 1997 there was no country more convinced than Britain.

If Rezko/Auchi proves to be the tip of the iceberg of funding scandals. If, as is very probable, Obama is unable to do much about the economic crisis, or if, American foreign policy remains the same, as it most likely will, or if, as is more likely, it is beyond Obama’s powers to do much for the lives of African-Americans in office, the disillusionment will give rise to a cynical backlash not just against Obama, but against all in public life. And that level of public bitterness ain’t fun for anybody.

Enjoy your illusions till the next one overtakes you, America. You’ve always been good at it.

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I had my doubts about him all along.  Not that I know any more than what the media and books have written, but I knew that no one who reaches that access and gains that type of support can stand up for humanity and justice.

Where the hell is President-elect Barack Obama?  He was not inaugurated yet when he condemned the November bombings in Mumbai.  Surely, he can say more than he was briefed and that he’s following the events.   I gather the bombings of refugees hiding out in schools are justified by Israel’s need for security and protection.

I am disgusted but not surprised.

Anyone can prepare a passionate speech about the ideals of justice, peace, and fairness, but it takes a man of honour and courage to actually stand for those ideals.  Don’t worry, Barack, no one will hold you in high regards or look at you with hope for change.  It is back to the drawing board.

And in the tradition of news media that are part mouthpieces for governments and part entertainment, CNN will continue to report on how Barack met Michelle and what designer will supply her inauguration dress.  That’s what the world needs to hear, of course, from American media: second rate, soap-opera type reporting that deliberately glosses over important issues and avoids holding powerful people accountable to their words and deeds.