[Winstonm]

Matt Taibbi and Robert Kuttner on Bill Moyer's Journal discussing the failure of the Obama presidency thus far to produce meaningful change:

Quote

BILL MOYERS: You say it’s a serious problem. But isn’t from your own experiences, your long experience, your recent experience, isn’t this the fundamental question issue of why it’s not working, that there’s too much money canceling out other imperatives, other needs, other possibilities?

MATT TAIBBI: This is the fundamental question. Is there a way that we can have a politician get elected without the sponsorship of special interests? Can we get somebody in the White House who’s independent of the special interests that are in the way of real reform? And that’s the problem. We haven’t been able to have that happen. And we need to find a way to have that happen.

ROBERT KUTTNER: Right. And I think it’s not accidental that the last three Democratic presidents have been at best, corporate Democrats. And one hoped because of the depth of the crisis and the disgrace of deregulation and ideology, and the practical failure of the Bush presidency, this was a moment for a clean break. The fact that even at such a moment, even with an outsider president campaigning on change we can believe in, that Barack Obama turned out to be who he has been so far, is just so revealing in terms of the structural undertow that big money represents in this country. The question is: Is he capable of making a change — he’s only been in office less than a year — in time to redeem the moment, redeem his own pro

No doubt - the best government money can buy. The big question is can that be changed or is it too late?

[barmar]

There's an enormous amount of momentum in the political establishment. I'm not sure any individual president is capable of making radical change to this. If you want to see a president pull this off, I think you have to get the DVD of "The West Wing". But realize that it's an idealized, fantasy world; in the real world, the bueaucratic machine is incredibly powerful.

Let's just hope he can make a few dents in it.

[kenberg]

Just the other day I asked my wife what she thought the fundamental question issue was, and she said that she agrees with Bill Moyers that there is too much money canceling out other imperatives.

This guy Moyers gets paid well does he?

[Al_U_Card]

The "most effective" leaders generally only plant seeds and start movements. Their legacies take time to develop. (but they are not always happy results...)

[Winstonm]

Quote

MATT TAIBBI: This is the fundamental question. Is there a way that we can have a politician get elected without the sponsorship of special interests?

My fundamental answer is: no. Which means that the Republic is lost having been replaced with an oligarchy. Which is the reason I do not vote in national elections and have not done so in many, many years - the oligarchs present me with a choice of two candidates of whom both will do the oligarchs' bidding but neither reflects the values I hold dear: I thus refuse to play along with this game of charade that we elect representatives of the people.