Mr. Fish and Harper's- Strangely prescient

[n2doc]

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2009/07/0082562

Barack Hoover Obama:
The best and the brightest blow it again
By Kevin Baker

Kevin Baker’s most recent novel, Strivers Row, is the final installment in his “City of Fire” trilogy about New York City. His last article for Harper’s Magazine, “Change Without Movement,” appeared in the June 2009 issue.

Three months into his presidency, Barack Obama has proven to be every bit as charismatic and intelligent as his most ardent supporters could have hoped. At home or abroad, he invariably appears to be the only adult in the room, the first American president in at least forty years to convey any gravitas. Even the most liberal of voters are finding it hard to believe they managed to elect this man to be their president.

It is impossible not to wish desperately for his success as he tries to grapple with all that confronts him: a worldwide depression, catastrophic climate change, an unjust and inadequate health-care system, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the ongoing disgrace of Guant·namo, a floundering education system.

Obama’s failure would be unthinkable. And yet the best indications now are that he will fail, because he will be unable—indeed he will refuse—to seize the radical moment at hand.

more at link...

[Captain Hilts]

1. Ouch!

Franklin and Eleanor: That's gotta hurt!
FDR: I guess it's better to be Hoover than to be Coolidge!
ER: I suppose so...

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. "failure to seize the radical moment at hand"

I know we're all guilty of projecting our personal hopes onto President Obama, but I thought that history had spoken and delivered a leader for the times, who would lead us back to the road of Rule of Law, the Constitution, plain old vanilla morality of evil doers being punished or at least being exiled from polite society, social justice for the poor and underrepresented (like the Middle class), and major and massive healthcare reform.

What I got is a leader who is just taking us down the same old road that got us to a very bad place initially. I am in a crowd of milling people, confused at the direction our leader is taking, shaking our compasses at him,and pointing out that the eventual endpoint of his road is a big cliff. I am in the part of the group that is shrugging their shoulders, turning around and starting to retrace their steps to get back to the juncture where we took the wrong turn. President Obama and his group can still turn around at anytime before actually going over the cliff although they don't have much farther to go. And there's still the stalled group in the middle, who can't decide which direction to head in.

[Myrina]

3. +10

Sigh. :(

[mod mom]

4. Where we fooled again or did they implant the corporatist chip inside his brain?

[depakid]

5. People would do well to read the entire, insight ful article

It's more than prescient- it's the by far the best piece I've seen describing the nature of the times- and the administration.

[snagglepuss]

6. I second that. Not only does it so well explain what is happening now, it

also dispelled the notion I held that Hoover was clueless and unintelligent. Boy was I wrong.

[snagglepuss]

7. What an excellent article. Thanks for posting. K & R nt

[QC]

8. I subscribe to Harper's, and this article is one of the best they have published

in years.

Many here will not like it, of course, because it is not delirious praise of how sexxxy the president is in his swimsuit or the like, but it is a very fair, and disturbing, article.

[tnlurker]

9. For reading later

[frylock]

10. knr

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

11. kick for one amazing article. nt