Naomi Klein joins a small but reputable blogotube clique who can't wait to declare an end to the Obama honeymoon.
At the risk of appearing worshippy, I seriously have to ask with all due respect: What's the point? While the president hasn't been perfect, he's made huge strides in the positive directions in just three short months -- some of these have far exceeded our expectations. Put another way, ballplayers who nail base hits in four out of ten at-bats are inducted into the Hall of Fame. I would suggest that President Obama is batting at least .500 so far. Saying so isn't about messianic worship. It's about being realistic.
And there continues to be plenty of cause for hope on a variety of fronts: significant reforms in terms of healthcare, transparency, education, the climate crisis and, not least, re-establishing our reputation on the world stage. Furthermore, the president has become a positive role model to hundreds of thousands of people, including, but not exclusively, African Americans who have achieved something for the ages. Call them Obama-ites or whatever floats your boat. But this is an aspect to the Obama presidency that can't and shouldn't be diminished.
If the goal is to hold him accountable for his missteps, fine. There's obviously nothing wrong with that. As long as we understand and accept that there's blowback. In the past, enough disillusionment from the left has helped to clear the way for some of our most awful Republican presidents.
There are ways to preserve accountability while not screwing ourselves in the process. The far-right is currently making this exact mistake.