Obama Defects

Maureen Dowd has written an interesting op-ed in which she identifies some defects in Obama. Here are some examples:

...Obama can often be more interested in wooing opponents than tending to those who put themselves on the line for him.

...Obama’s failure to lift a finger to help Caroline Kennedy — after she had lifted him at a crucial moment — when the loopy Gov. David Paterson was dragging her through mud and refusing to announce a decision on the appointment for the New York Senate seat. Paterson was being lobbied by a vengeful Bill Clinton. Bill was still upset at Caroline for bestowing the Camelot mantle, which he had tried to claim during his campaigns, on Obama. Yet no one from the Obama camp tried to counteract Bill and straighten out Paterson.

... Although a handful of donors were invited to the premiere state dinner Tuesday night ... many donors and passionate supporters are let down by Obama’s detachment, puzzled at his failure to make them feel invested when he’s certain to come back to tap their well soon enough.

It is especially puzzling given that Obama faces tough midterms and a less-than-certain re-election — and given that we all now know someone on the unemployment line. (A new poll shows Obama and Sarah Palin neck and neck among independents, but then it is a Fox survey.)

Bill Clinton may not have cared any more about contributors than Obama does, but he was such a talented politician that he made them feel as though they were in “a warm bath,” as one put it.

Obama is more like a cold shower.

I felt Obama was a stronger leader than Clinton and I was dead set against political aristocracies (Kennedy, Bush, Clinton) but I'm now willing to admit I made a horrible mistake. Obama has fallen far short. I'm not sure Hillary Clinton would have stood up to Wall Street. But I do know that Obama has failed several critical tests: he caved to Wall Street with the trillion dollar bailout, he didn't push for a large enough stimulus, he ignores the growing unemployment, he never pushed hard for universal health care, he has dithered over Afghanistan and ended up extending a pointless Vietnam-style debacle in Afghanistan, he backtracked on promises to close down Guantanamo, etc., etc.