Posted by
Bill Crawford on Tuesday, December 22, 2009 11:34:42 AM
But what exactly is he? His psychohistory is still being written, the task made much harder by his aloofness. Two years into Clinton's presidency, David Maraniss wrote "First In His Class", probably still the best analysis of what makes that man tick- brought it all the way back to a dynamic poli sci, public service class in college as his 'center'.
I watched Barrack's Afghanistan speech like I was watching a tennis match, bouncing back and forth between his "unambiguous" projection of military force with (what he regarded as) a non-conflicting announcement that the withdrawal will start on a date certain next August. Of course, the next morning, all his spokesmen were touting this date as purely contingent on circumstances.
So he announces a buildup to curry those who would hold him soft on defense otherwise. Then he announces the start of withdrawal to appease his base, ostensibly to light a fire under the Kabul government. What, he didn't think Al-Queda was watching?
The bottom line is, where exactly is Obama on all this, when the TV lights aren't on? Does anybody know?
This was brought into bolder relief when Obama went to Norway to accept his Nobel Prize, and lectured the European audience on the occasional necessity of war, along with a recitation on the benign American history of military force there. Hell, I could have made that speech! Where on earth did that come from?
Here is where I am right now: I'm beginning to understand that, in order to get a handle on what Obama is, you have to understand what the center of his world is. In his case, that is Barrack Obama. I think the most important consultations he holds are in the shaving mirror every morning.
He is not an ideologue. Yes, he is clearly a liberal, and he holds fealty to liberal ideas without question or doubt. And while they are his clear preference, he walks away from them at will to places that leave his supporters in confused tatters. Anybody who wants Guantanamo Base closed does not have any idea why Obama would leave a loophole in his 'no more torture' rule changes to allow him to do the same thing Bush did, at his whim.
The only thing centrally important to Obama, the last thing he would give up, is...Obama. You had all better get used to it.