From Hope to Nope

Here we are, eleven months into the first term of the first African American president of the United States. A man who ran for office on a ticket of "hope" and "change," with just enough specificity so that he could claim victories if anything resembling the issue came to something and just enough vagueness so that he might erect a teflon shield against charges that he'd broken campaign promises. Hence, if anything--and I mean just about anything--resembling health care reform, he can belly-up and claim that he delivered.

The problem that Obama faces--one that he and his staff should've been savvy enough to anticipate--is that his biggest promises--hope and change--cannot be so easily quantified. He put on a winning ad campaign, but people believed him. They put aside the cynicism that they hold for ad campaigns in general (no one really expects that they'll get the sexy girl when they drink the beer or buy the car--at least no one over the age of 15) and political campaigns in particular. He became a brand with high recognition and high anticipation. Watching his campaign was like watching trailers for a great new high-budget special effects extravaganza heading for the multiplex on a holiday weekend.

Sadly, if hope cannot be quantified in terms of delivery, when we feel that our hopes have been betrayed, we get really, really mad. After courting progressives and the youth vote, Obama--they feel--has been fickle. He's jilted them. Prince Charming is just another Don Juan. (Perhaps that's an insult to Don Juan; from what we can gather, he at least left all of those women satisfied.)

I'm not so "evolved" that I'm beyond saying, "I told you so," especially since I dared to let myself get carried away and thought we might see something different. I was attentive to his vacuous campaign; I was aware that he was successful in Chicago politics--hardball and nasty. Still, after eight years of Bush and Cheney, I guess I was ready to think I might be able to vote for the Democrat, rather than just against the Republican.

I knew the game was over when he announced the appointment of Geithner to Treasury. That was it. A year ago--even before he took the oath of office--he declared that his entire campaign was null and void. He appointed a fatcat to restore our economy and manage the fatcats. The rest we can read for ourselves in the unemployment figures, the unabated foreclosures, and the stories of obscene corporate bonuses.

Whatever passes the Senate is not necessarily going to be better than nothing, and the hope that the Senate will be able to tinker it into shape belies the facts of how that "august" body works these days. We can hope that what emerges from the reconciliation of the House package with the Senate improves things. We did hope that Obama would lead the charge on this issue, too, and we see how well that worked out.