The Czar of all the Czars: A brilliant mistake

He thought he was the King of America
But it was just a boulevard of broken dreams
Elvis Costello, "Brilliant Mistake," 1986.

...and a boulevard of broken promises. As I blogged seven days ago, the left is beginning to turn on the self-proclaimed King of America...the Czar of all the Czars...Barack Obama.

Last week it was Ted Rall, tonight it's Salon's David Sirota.

After noting the hypocrisy of Obama choosing the woman he had denigrated for months, Hillary Clinton, for his secretary of state, the liberal continues:

A few months later, in reversing a five-year-old commitment to support ending the Cuban embargo, Obama offered no rationale for the U-turn other than saying he was "running for Senate" at a time that "seems just eons ago" -- again, as if everyone should know that previous campaign promises mean nothing.

At least that was a response. After the New York Times recently reported that "the administration has no present plans to reopen negotiations on NAFTA" as "Obama vowed to do during his campaign," there was no explanation offered whatsoever. We were left to recall Obama previously telling Fortune magazine that his NAFTA promises were too "overheated and amplified" to be taken literally.

It's true that politicians have always broken promises, but rarely so proudly and with such impunity.

We once respected democracy by at least demanding explanations -- however weak -- for unfulfilled promises. Then we became a country whose scorched-earth campaigns against flip-flopping desensitized us to reversals. Now, we don't flinch when our president appears tickled that a few poor souls still expect politicians to fulfill promises and justify broken ones.

Costello's song ends with these lyrics:

I was a fine idea at the time
Now I'm a brilliant mistake

Related post:

Ted Rall calls for Obama's resignation

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