> So, no, I don't attribute to Obama any magical power as a person.
> But, tied to his attempt on the presidency, there is an emerging
> political force that -- in my humble opinion -- represents a potentially
> progressive force in U.S. politics.
Yes, I'd agree with this. On one level, people are sick and tired of the 20-year Clintonbush dynasty. On another, deeper level, there's been a covert rejection of both neoliberalism and its dim provincial cousin, petro-fundamentalism. By profession, I keep close tabs on the pulse of the US media culture, and this has been a noticeable trend since mid-2005.
Partly this is due to the sheer scale of the Empire's disintegration -- it's hard to ignore a broken healthcare system, a broken political system, a broken media system, broken infrastructure, a broken foreign policy, a broken war, and a busted housing bubble forever. But it's also the arrival of the digital commons and the multinational media culture. Americans are using the web to pierce the veils of Mordor, hobbit-style.
-- DRR