On 2010-11-22, at 7:39 PM, Dennis Claxton wrote:
> Marv wrote:
>
>> Actually, Greenspan is another good example of a bourgeois critic who thinks the Obama administration has been too soft on the banks
>
> What Greenspan says now is worth as much as what Obama said before he was elected.
Perhaps. The same could be said about Jimmy Carter's comments after leaving the presidency. But it's equally possible Carter and Greenspan arrived at their respective views about the Middle East conflict and the regulation of the financial industry in light of later developments after leaving office. They're both now free of the political considerations which would have inhibited them from publicly expressing controversial views even if they had first come to them when they were exercising power.
Obama may also have sincerely believed himself to be an agent of change before he was elected; he wouldn't be the first reformist politician or trade union leader to have been subsequently intimidated by the power of capital and lacking in confidence in the capacity of his or her followers to successfully challenge it. It's not plausible that these leaders, in many countries over many generations, were all, or even mostly, treacherous opportunists who consciously misled their supporters about their intentions while seeking office.