The Constant Promise of Jam Tomorrow

P.M. Carpenter over at BuzzFlash tells all of us lefties to, in so many words, just shut up and lump it in relation to Barack Obama's early abandonment of some of the very ideals and principles that inspired so many people to support him with an energy and enthusiasm arguably unseen since the ill-fated campaign of Robert F. Kennedy. After all, Carpenter tuts, the goal is victory in November rather than righteousness in June and, once the former has been achieved, St. Barack will go back to being the principled and visionary leader who got us all worked up in the first place.

When have we heard this kind of nonsense before?

While there are certainly clear differences between the situations - Barack Obama is not, insofar as anyone can tell, on a crusade to modernize and overhaul the Democratic Party in a quest to appeal to Middle America in the way that Tony Blair dragged Labour rightwards to appeal to Middle England - the hopes that a politician will return to some kind of left-of-centre principles and policies after the business of getting elected has been achieved have, more often than not, proven to be misplaced before and seem just as likely to prove a fallacy now. Politics, we are so often reminded in times like these, is a cynical and merciless business that more often than not leaves a trail of disillusionment in its wake.

Caveat emptor.