hope?

i'm hearing this word alot recently, and there's nothing wrong with hope...as long as it's tempered by a good deal of realism...barak's a step in the right direction as far as changing perceptions of ourselves as a nation and other's perceptions of us...better (less unilateral and exceptionalist) relations with the rest of the world will be something of a relief...but as far as substantive change goes...good luck...cosmetic changes, sure..the tone of voice will change, but the system will not...career bureaucrats will change style to suit the new boss, but the rules won't change much...barak's a lawyer and a politician...a smooth talker who has peopled his adminstration with cronies and washington insiders...moving towards the center since his election...he is part of the system, and will stay within its constraints...it is not neutral...it favors wealth, and they will have their way or there will be a new president in 2012...old bill clinton was supposed to be good for working people and all we got was nafta and bad judgement about office etiquette...in the end barak will not change the system, it will change him...i hear a lot of parallels drawn between obama and roosevelt...both inherited economic messes and fdr had a co-operative congress to a point, but there was always resistance to the new deal and as time went on it stiffened...that resistance was premepted by ww2, but as soon as it was over and roosevelt was dead the foes of the new deal began to dismantle it until virtually all that's left is social secutiry...ask a consevative how they feel about that...the system can't be fixed because it isn't broke..it's functioning as its designers intended...to protect wealth from the mob...read the federalist papers sometime...barak won't win if he tries to undo it...his time in office is limited ( another reaction to roosevelt) the system's is not.