Obama and the Disenchanted

First, Barack Obama gave up on immediately eliminating tax cuts for the rich and introducing a special tax for oil companies, as he had promised in the electoral campaign. Then, he announced that many commitments and investments, from health to pensions, would be downsized due to the economic crisis.

Obama’s changes of course are increasing. Some are prompted by the recession, but others are not, like maintaining the U.S. military presence in Iraq or the decision to postpone closing Guantanamo Bay detention camp. This postponement was necessary, of course, but it caused quite a sensation, considering Obama’s campaign promises. Yesterday, the president-elect had to change his tone.

“It’s not time yet to reach for a pitchfork, but this is not the change we expect,” yelled out the Washington Post’s David Corn, the chief editor of Mother Jones, magazine of the radical left.

Nobody is accusing Obama of creating a team full of centrists or downsizing his commitments. His character is always popular, and he hasn’t even started to govern yet. But, with a week to go before his inauguration, among liberals and “left” bloggers is already spreading some disappointment, as well as in the democratic majority in the Congress. Obama hoped to get to his oath with his anti-recession plan – a law in support of economy for almost 800 million – already approved.

Instead, despite his focus on the urgency to intervene and stop the economic worsening, the new President has to live with a tortuous course. Everyone will be examining his decisions.

The illusion of “passing it [his stimulus plan] via Immaculate Conception” didn’t last long, joked New York Times conservative columnist David Brooks. Of course, there are people who contest Obama’s stimulus plan not because they disagree with it, but because they’ve been left behind. One example is Sen. John Kerry, a critic since Obama chose Hillary Clinton, not him, as Secretary of State.

Even in the strict and severe criticism given to Obama’s plans by economist Paul Krugman, who just won a Nobel prize, people saw that he was deluded because he was not selected for Obama’s team. Obama selected people with experience from Bill Clinton’s administration, and is striving to make centrist policies, politically speaking. Krugman, just like Joseph Stiglitz, belongs to the left. For him, encouragements and public works are not enough. He just wants statism.

The Nation, official voice of the radical left, asked the “liberals” to not worry: “Of course, Obama is behaving as a pragmatic and a centrist, but we are living exceptional times and his plan could be the right way to produce results in a progressive view.” Labor unions are nervous, too: Obama didn’t rescind his promise of a law that would help them enter companies, but hasn’t talked about it since the election.