Will Obama be the next Tony Blair?

irishbran77

I know I should probably give him the benefit of the doubt but at this point int he world optimism seems unrealistic! I'm worried that all the enthusiasm, and all the good wishes will give Obama a blanket cover for actions Bush would be criticised for. I think people here in America are calling this the end of racism while teenagers in the South are still brutalised by the police and the prisons. I just worry that alot of people have let their guards down and will allow a more right wing and aggressive policy to develop out of the soon to be in office president.

Tony Blair came into power with people thinking it was a new era of humanitarian and progressive change. And to think that even Blair had more substantial politics on show than Obama who keeps repeating the 'yes we can" mantra.

PS- I would have voted for Nader or the socialists instead!!

ShoulderChip

yeah of course your concerns are plausible but why worry.

The Raven.

irishbran77 wrote: »

I know I should probably give him the benefit of the doubt but at this point int he world optimism seems unrealistic! I'm worried that all the enthusiasm, and all the good wishes will give Obama a blanket cover for actions Bush would be criticised for. I think people here in America are calling this the end of racism while teenagers in the South are still brutalised by the police and the prisons. I just worry that alot of people have let their guards down and will allow a more right wing and aggressive policy to develop out of the soon to be in office president.

Tony Blair came into power with people thinking it was a new era of humanitarian and progressive change. And to think that even Blair had more substantial politics on show than Obama who keeps repeating the 'yes we can" mantra.

It’s interesting that you should mention this. John Waters wrote a very good article in last Friday’s Irish Times entitled Obama might consider the fortunes of Tony Blair. It's well worth reading.

Obama might do worse than consider the fortunes of Tony Blair, who first could do no wrong with the kinds of people who currently think Obama is the answer to everything. Just a little later, having come face-to-face with a couple of unsquarable circles, Blair could do no right by the self-same people.

So, Obama offers hope, will deliver change. As the first coloured president of the US, he's already done most of it. But he should remember that he carries the frustrated hopes of several generations of idealists who have had moments of optimism snatched from them before. And this weight of expectation makes it difficult for him to avoid falling into the same trap as Blair.

There has been a handful of key moments of global liberal optimism in the past half century. First, at the start of the 1960s, was JFK; then, at the end of that decade, his brother Bobby. There followed a quarter-century of waiting before Bill Clinton. Because its notions about idealism are still enveloped in that 1960s haze, the only way our culture knows to imagine the new is to evoke someone from 40 years ago. Obama played these cards adroitly, but now is faced with a set of realities in which cod-idealism has little traction.

Such is the paradox of the conception of hope travelling under the orthodox liberal banner, that the history of the past half-century reveals a pattern quite at variance with the cultural expectations dominating public thought at this moment.

Full article: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2008/1107/1225925540018.html

Black Swan

irishbran77 wrote: »

I just worry that alot of people have let their guards down and will allow a more right wing and aggressive policy to develop out of the soon to be in office president.

Huh? This is completely unfounded and contrary to the past actions and philosophy of Obama. Just heard on the radio today that one of the Bush Executive Orders that Obama stated he will reverse immediately upon assuming office is the prohibition on the federal funding of stem cell research, not exactly a right wing position! I can see the right wing, religious fundamentalists printing their White House protest signs now, before Obama moves in 20 January.

Sourced by BBC too: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7718949.stm

brianthebard

That depends on who's right you are looking at, Arnie is in favour of stem cell research for instance. Personally I don't see anything right or left about Obama, he's fairly middle of the road which was more than appealling enough after the last eight years to get him elected, and makes him look quite to the left in comparision, even if its not true.

Tony Broke

For some reason I can see Obama resigning too

Black Swan

Tony Broke wrote: »

For some reason I can see Obama resigning too

Resigning from what? His current elected US Senate seat to assume the office of the president?

What the Republicans should start worrying about now is to find some leadership in their party, which collapsed during this presidential election, as evidenced by the landslide Obama victory in both the Electoral College (364, when only 270 needed) and by millions in popular vote. We still hear of the infighting between the McCain and Palin camps on the news today, with a lot of finger pointing, but no one standing up to assume full responsibility (or leadership). And outgoing Bush is but a whimper!

irishbran77

"Huh? This is completely unfounded and contrary to the past actions and philosophy of Obama."

"Past actions" for Obama don't exceed the four years he was elected as Senator from Illinois! And although he worked around community issues in Chicago for a time he doesn't really espouse a philosophy. As the other poster mentioned, he may appear very liberal compared to what came before, but in Europe and many parts of the world, he is a very centrist politician. He claimed in one of his books to be a blank canvas on which people project their interests. And this is what I worry about; that he is a faux-liberal nodding in the direction of liberal issues without committing to substantial political opinions.

It reminds of the American view of Lincoln as being a great anti-racist and supporter of abolition which ignores his true feelings that he himself expressed in the debates he had with Douglas. Obama will turn out to be far more to the right than say Carter, and all those people against war with Iran, or for better treatment of prisoners in American jails and for universal healthcare will be left scratching their heads in amazement when their hero acts like every other American president in the last half century!

Nodin

irishbran77 wrote: »

It reminds of the American view of Lincoln as being a great anti-racist and supporter of abolition which ignores his true feelings that he himself expressed in the debates he had with Douglas. Obama will turn out to be far more to the right than say Carter, and all those people against war with Iran, or for better treatment of prisoners in American jails and for universal healthcare will be left scratching their heads in amazement when their hero acts like every other American president in the last half century!

Quite possible, but the fact is that Obama is not the sole factor in the equation. The Presidency, though a hugely powerful office, is not the American equivalent of a Prime Minister/Taoiseach, nor is party discipline as tight as it is here. Theres a great deal that has to go through congress, and an awful lot of horse trading to get things through. Therefore even if he is a genuine American "leftist" President, he has no carte blanche to act entirely as he sees fit. Bush was able to play the patriot card to get various things through, but Obama doesn't have that to throw at them.

Anyhoo, the man hasn't planted his arse on the seat as of yet, so its going to be a few months before we can begin to clearly see where hes going....

Black Swan

irishbran77 wrote: »

"Past actions" for Obama don't exceed the four years he was elected as Senator from Illinois!

Excluding when he was a Harvard student, I am roughly counting 20 years, working for the Chicago poor as a community organizer (3 years), civil rights lawyer (5 years), Illinois State Senator (8 years), US Senator from Illinois (4 years).

• Community Organizer (1985-1988). "Obama moved to Chicago in 1985. There, he worked as a community organizer with low-income residents in Chicago’s Roseland community and the Altgeld Gardens public housing development on the city’s South Side."
  
• Student (1988-1991), Harvard Law School.
  
• Civil Rights Lawyer (1991-1996). After law school, Obama returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer, joining the firm of Miner, Barnhill & Galland. He also taught at the University of Chicago Law School."
  
• Illinois State Senator, (Jan 1997-Jan 2005). "Obama’s advocacy work led him to run for the Illinois State Senate as a Democrat. He was elected in 1996 from the south side neighborhood of Hyde Park. During these years, Obama worked with both Democrats and Republicans in drafting legislation on ethics, expanded health care services and early childhood education programs for the poor. He also created a state earned-income tax credit for the working poor."
  
• US Senator from Illinois (Jan 2005-Jan 2009). In the 2004 Democratic primary, he won 52 percent of the vote, defeating multimillionaire businessman Blair Hull and Illinois Comptroller Daniel Hynes.
  
• US President (Jan 2009-?).

Sources:
http://www.biography.com/featured-biography/barack-obama/bio2.jsp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1682433/bio

Biggins

Boiled down, why on Earth would Obama want to be the next Tony Blair? Dear Gawd! :rolleyes:

What will Tony Blair be remembered for? Leading a country into an illegal war, being actually fooled by another to think differently and lose all common sense, never have the common touch of the lower and middle classes, failure to protect ones country and control crime to any extent, cancel official and state investigations and inquiries when they (the government) had been bribing Arabs to get their way to increase sales for private British companies?
...the list goes on...

Will Obama be the next Tony Blair?
He shaggin' wouldn't if he has half the brains he has - nor would he ever want to in the future.

B&B (Bush and Blair) - History will remember them as the two biggest fools ever to run a first world economic power country.

Another Tony Blair! No, Obama and America will not allow that to happen again, the price is to high to pay again.

Mr.Micro

For a start Blair is a weed compared to Obama intellectually. Speaking of Blair, is there any chance that he will be sacked as peace envoy for the Middle east a job he was given last year by Bush? I hope that Obama does not allow his administration to be tainted by Blair who will no doubt try to gain favour.