It is interesting to watch Barack Obama as reality sets in.
Even as he creates a new government office, the Office of the President-Elect, and begins delivering weekly addresses to the nation, evidence abounds that the about-to-be-President-Elect—it’s not official until the Electoral College votes Monday, December 15—has changed his perspective on life in the United States.
It may be no more than that Mr. Obama knew all along that his campaign rhetoric was nothing more than, well, campaign rhetoric, and he is now doing what he planned all along to do. Or, it may be that circumstances dictate a different approach to governing than the one he really believes in.
Certainly, with only a few exceptions his appointments to date are not what the liberal base that so strongly supported him expected, and have been so off the liberal course that they have some conservative and Republican support.
No doubt he realizes now that he is in the national security loop just how serious the threats and the circumstances really are. Perhaps he understands that closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility is rife with problems, not least among them what to do with the dangerous terrorists housed there. No doubt he has no desire to be the president that caused them to be released into the United States, or to be put in a position to attack Americans.
Now that the chickens are coming home to roost from his past and present alliances with strange Chicago characters and other oddballs, even his supporters in the mainstream media are not going to be able to ignore these connections.
Things have changed a lot since before November 4.
I think Barack Obama is an intelligent being. His street smarts, however, had been overwhelmed by an enormous ego, magnified still further by millions of fawning fans who think he really is The One. But reality has great sobering powers, and Barack Obama is smart enough to pay attention, I believe, and I hope.
My guess is that reality has taken hold and he understands that governing is a different ballgame than running for office, and he understands that, at least for the foreseeable future, the leftist ideals he espoused in the campaign are off the table.
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