Jim Devine wrote:
but aren't BHO's majorities in both houses significantly larger than Dubya's were at the start of his administration? Is BHO's relative wimpiness a result of the GOP's relative willingness to use the filibuster? Or is it a matter of his representing the corporate mainstream, while Dubya and the GOP are more hard-right in nature and therefore more willing to see Congressional politics as a form of war?
I don't think wimpiness is the issue. It is rather clear that Obama has been inspired by the presidency of George Bush '41 and Bill Clinton. Between these two and most candidates of the Republican and Democratic Party in recent years, there is not that much difference. Does anybody actually remember what the debates between Clinton and Dole were really about? Only 2 candidates bucked the centrist trend and they were Reagan and Bush '43. But remember that Dubya ran as a centrist more or less and only lurched to the right after 9/11.
I think that the ruling class has always preferred a more centrist candidate like Obama or George Bush '41. They have looked at the damage to their long-term interests by the last 8 years of Bush and are looking to move things back to the center. That's what the nomination of Leon Panetta means to me. This guy is not going to reform the CIA (which really means to abolish it) but make sure that it is running professionally. Why the liberals at Air America, MSNBC, et al are so excited by this is of course something of a mystery.
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