Whose President Is He Anyway? So much passion invested, so much potential for let-down?

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Whose President Is He Anyway?
By PETER BAKER
Published: November 15, 2008


(Doug Mills/NYT)
YOURS, MINE, OURS Now that the campaign is over, Barack Obama’s first moves are being watched closely for signals about who he feels most accountable to.

....Practically everyone wants to claim Mr. Obama these days. African-Americans, obviously, but also Hispanic-Americans, Jewish-Americans, Muslim-Americans and even white Americans purging feelings of racial guilt. The youth, the netroots, the bipartisan consensus builders, the East Coast elites, the Hollywood crowd. Liberals, centrists and even some conservatives who see Reaganesque qualities. The British, the Germans and other foreigners disaffected with Bush’s America.

“I am like a Rorschach test,” Mr. Obama noted at one point during the campaign. “Even if people find me disappointing ultimately, they might gain something.” The Rorschach part may fade with the end of the campaign but the test part is here. Reconciling all those different impressions of who Mr. Obama is and what he stands for may prove as defining a challenge as fixing the economy.

Whose president is he? The standard line from his advisers would naturally be that he’s the president of all Americans. But it rarely works out that simply. Ultimately, the gauzy picture of the campaign trail sharpens in the act of governing. Ultimately, choices are made and illusions shattered. And so many of Mr. Obama’s supporters invested so much passion in him that the potential for let-down seems considerable.

The president-elect’s first few actions and statements since the election have provided some initial clues that are already being scrutinized for larger meaning....

***

Mr. Obama has an advantage that some other presidents did not, in that he has been a singular political phenomenon who probably does not owe his election primarily to any particular group. If Ronald Reagan leaned heavily on the support of the religious conservatives and Mr. Clinton tried to move his party to the center in search of independents, Mr. Obama did not define himself in strongly ideological terms, even if his record and program are largely left of center.

But it was Mr. Obama who set the expectations so high among so many different constituency groups....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/weekinreview/16baker.html?pagewanted=all

[pretzel4gore]

1. the NYTimes should be ashamed of itself....

their Ed. board are goddam traitors,imho....subprime mortgages? yeah sure buddy; just sign on this nice lil arse! btw, wanna buy some fake marajuwanna too?
(but the Youngster finished his term, we gotta givem that, i guess)

[bunnies]

2. "white Americans purging feelings of racial guilt"

Youve got to be fucking kidding me. :nuke:

[liberalmuse]

4. I read that...

and will read no further. So I guess only whites with feelings of guilt claim Obama. It couldn't be that he was the best possible candidate, or that McCain sucked ass, could it?

I've read so much shit from so-called 'respectable' rags today it's coming out of my ears.

[bunnies]

6. Thats where I stopped reading as well.

I'm so sick of this BS I think my head might explode. Apparently, I only voted for Obama to release the guilt I feel for something that had absolutely nothing to do with me.

How the hell do they even print this crap?!

[TheDoorbellRang]

7. Has anyone here met ANYONE who voted for Obama for that reason?

It's just completely fatuous. I can only hypothesize that it's a theory put forth by idjits who might have mouthed the PC thing but were secretly racists and just assumed everyone around them were, too. It makes absolutely no sense.

[bunnies]

9. I sure as hell havent.

But you know, they *had* to come up with *some* reason that 'the whites' with whom Obama 'couldnt close the deal' ended up supporting him in the end.

Anything to take away from the mans accomplishments. Seems kinda racist in and of itself - to me.

[ecstatic]

10. that jumped out at me too. WTF? Not reading anymore nt

[FrenchieCat]

3. He doesn't even get to sit at the goddam desk at the Oval office

prior to this guy blaming Obama for something; expectations. Well, I guess 65 days prior to OBama getting to participate in the swearing in ceremony is as good a time to start as any other....or is it?

[DeepModem Mom]

5. You know, I don't always agree with articles I post -- many are just FYI. I have seen...

here at DU, however, disappointment from some (not me) already.

[FrenchieCat]

8. Aye.....

I understand the fact that what you post has little to do with whether you agree or disagree with the articles you select to post.

I think a lot of these sentiments are fueled by 8 years of utter frustration and disappointment on top of disappointment without end.

Thing is the New York Times editorial board, oftentimes assisted in allowing Bush to get his way against the people's wishes. That is what is so ironic; Bush got a pass on mostly everything he did for so long, and yet Obama is being judged before he actually has a chance to do or say much of anything. Guess that's change, but I'm not sure it will be all that helpful in this case......as it is so extreme in its unreasonability....and the entire point should have been a change toward reasonability, not away from it. :(

[DeepModem Mom]

11. Well said. nt

[donheld]

12. He's mine so just back off sister!

:hide::D

[TexasObserver]

13. Obama reminds me of Lloyd Doggett and Tom Harkin.

I like a politician I can help elect, then never again worry about. Like Lloyd and Tom.