plus ca change..

# al loomis Says:
January 15th, 2008 at 6:11 am

people are starting to remark on the fact that obama has so far not stiffened his feel-good rhetoric with any substantive plans. this may be part of his strategy, or more likely that he is only mortal, and a politician, and has no grand plan. if he can’t come up with something significant, there will be disillusionment.

the beneficiaries of that will be clinton, or edwards, if it happens before the nomination, the republicans if it happens during the election campaign. then it could have the result of turning a ‘democrat year’ into a lively race, with a real chance of republican victory.

there can be no real changes to american society as long as politicians rule it, but obama has tapped a deep well of contempt, both for dubya and for politics. he may yet ride it to the whitehouse.

if he gets his bum on the throne, he will discover change is difficult and unrewarding to someone who is enjoying the rewards of supremacy in society.

so we can expect steady as she goes whoever gets in the oval office, just as the ruddster has begun with verbal fervor, but has to be both green and support coal-fired energy. real change can only happen when a nation’s voters support a referendum, which generates a result for the nation uncolored by a politician’s need to be re-elected.

mike gravel’s candidacy was built around his ‘initiative for democracy’ and has been completely ignored. this surprised me, as many american states have a democratic tradition. considering the grass roots guerilla campaign ron paul has generated in support of policies that pauline hanson would be glad to champion, it is doubly amazing that gravel could not at least put structural change in discussion.

if there is any general observation to be drawn, perhaps it is this:

the ship of state is much less agile than a giant oil-tanker at full speed, the crew is ignorant, the officers greedy, the captain a vain megalomaniac, and the approaching environmental reef unavoidable. if there is a god, get busy mate, for your children are incompetent to save themselves.