Academics From Left And Right Analyze Obama

What should one think when two groups with distinct agendas evaluate one man, come up with conclusions that are roughly the same - BUT - the consuming public renders differing rates of acceptance of each of the findings of these academics because of their own entrenchment and acceptance of "the messenger"?

First Up - From The Left:

• Drew Westen - Emory University - "Leadership, Obama Style, and the Looming Losses in 2010: Pretty Speeches, Compromised Values, and the Quest for the Lowest Common Denominator  (Note - I refuse to directly syndicate Huffington Post source material where possible.  Thus you must click through to the HuffPo propaganda site to get to the article)

From the Right

• Shelby Steele/Wall Street Journal - "Obama and Our Post-Modern Race Problem" 
• Elizabeth Wright - Issues & Views blog - "Steeped In Obama Hype" - Analysis Of Steele's Article

The irony of it all is that both of these bodies of work come to the same conclusion:  Barack Obama has no immutable core beliefs that he is unwilling to compromise and/or lose his popularity over.

Mind you, from the left they argue that he has departed from his core of left-wing foundation for the sake of finding commonality.  From the right they are arguing that he never had such a basis in the first place.  He is merely a creature of "popularity/likability".  This is a point that is mentioned about his "World Apology Tour" as he seeks to get America's enemies to "like us" - mostly because he is not Bush.

Some are inclined to judge this mutual consternation from left and right as a validation that during a time of a divided nation - Barack Obama has succeed in pissing both "extremes" off and thus this is good for America.  I strongly disagree.   We all knew that Barack Obama was a died in the wool leftist.  I stated routinely that what I don't know about the man I can detect by the friends who are assembled around him.  The biggest indictment of Obama for my tastes (and why I could not vote for him) was that this one man was able to make

• Michael Moore the Anti-Capitalist and Warren Buffett the Capitalist happy
• The Black Preacher and the Black Hip Hop Street Pirate happy
• The Radical Feminist who is seeking to redefine gender roles and the Nation of Islam loyalist happy
• The Hollywood Millionaire Establishment and the Corporate Financiers On Wall Street happy
  

In summary - cats were made to lay with dogs in a tentative peace.

The charter members of the "Obama Manhood Protectors" who, during election season would angrily protest any tough scrutiny of Obama's record (ABC New operative George Stephonoplis was attacked for asking questions in a debate that he has received from Obama critics) wanted to prevent anyone from disrupting the narrative that they have crafted.

In my previous post "Obama - Poster Child For Some Black People" I warned of the risks Black people cheering the "vehicle" rather than focusing in on the actual attainment of our PERMANENT INTERESTS.  The forces who promote the machine that Obama is attached to over these interests within our community are to be blamed for this misdirection which extracts our needed focus internally for their own purposes.