Interesting 2006 post by David Sirota on Obama...

[tex-wyo-dem]

Looking through the wayback machine that is the internets, I found this analysis of Obama by Sirota interesting...looks like he may have been pretty much spot-on.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/the-people-party-vs-the-m_b_35459.html

The People Party vs. The Money Party: Here Are the Players

Posted: December 3, 2006 04:10 PM

The fact that our nation's politics is divided not between Democrats and Republicans but between the People Party and the Money Party is obvious to anyone who looks at the political system honestly (which is to say, not most journalists or Washington political hacks). Calls for "bipartisanship" and faux "centrism" that has nothing to do with the actual center of American public opinion are most often moves to prevent the political debate from analyzing the People vs. Money divide that actually fuels our politics. We already have plenty of "bipartisanship" - Republicans and a faction of Democrats who regularly join hands to screw over the vast majority of Americans.

Many people ask me who? Who are the leading members of both sides of the actual divide? The answer is that there is no official list because no one is forced to formally declare their allegiance to the People Party or the Money Party. But it is fairly obvious which lawmakers in the new majority have specifically defined themselves on economic justice issues. Though this is by no means a comprehensive list, here are the ones to watch in the coming Congress:

<...>

Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) - Leans People Party: As I detailed in a long piece for The Nation, Obama's instincts throughout his career have been to strongly side with the People Party against the Money Party. That is true, even if he also is more of a cautious Establishmentarian than a power-challenger - and especially considering his recent moves to potentially push full public financing of congressional elections. However, he recently headlined the kickoff event for the so-called Hamilton Project - the Wall Street backed front group whose goal is to undercut Democratic efforts to seriously reform America's trade policy. He additionally voted for the industry-written class action bill that limits citizens ability to seek legal redress against corporate abusers, he voted for the oil industry-written Energy Bill, he voted against legislation to crack down on exorbitant credit card interests rates, and he voted for the Oman Free Trade Agreement. In a presidential race, I believe Obama will more fully embrace the People Party both because it makes political sense and because I believe that's where his heart is. The question will be whether those two factors will outweigh the pressure he will face to join the Money Party and use his huge celebrity-driven microphone to push the Money Party's agenda - pressures that may be responsible for his relative silence on major economic justice issues in his first two years in the Senate.

Yep, I'd say that's pretty close.

[Clio the Leo]

1. Pretty cool. NT

[paulk]

2. At some point Obama realized that if he wanted to be President

he'd better understand which side his bread was buttered on...