AS THE INK BLOT RESOLVES INTO EVER SCARIER SHAPES:

O's 'blank screen': Why he's losing credibility (LYNN FORESTER DE ROTHSCHILD, October 17, 2009, NY Post)

IN "The Audacity of Hope," Barack Obama described himself as "a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views." This is a powerful tool in elections and explains why liberals, moderates, Democrats, Independents and Republicans joined together to give him 53 percent of the vote last November. [...]

[T]he American people have begun to judge President Obama on his record, not his rhetoric; on his policies, not his narrative -- and on his ability to govern, not on his campaign machine.

The cool and reasonable candidate who gave hope to his voters, who promised to rise above the ugly politics and big money of Washington, is turning out to be as conventional a politician as any other. Indeed, as he runs a permanent campaign from the White House, he is proving to be more committed to protecting the vested interests of his party than standing up for actual change.

What we thought was a unicorn turns out to be a clotheshorse.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 17, 2009 6:28 AM