Re: American Presidential Candidates
to expect a reversal of all policies inconsistent with his own ideology is just unrealistic. in a time of war and pervasive terrorism, continuing existing security policies (consistent with the views of the security establishment) was not surprising. if you recall, he issued a signing statement in which he explicitly expressed his reservations and specifically declared that his administration would never indefinitely detain US citizens. with so many (much more important) issues on his plate that require taking significant political risk, to think he would invest scarce political capital in a post-9/11 world to fight that particular provision is just ridiculous.
keep in mind that barack obama never ran for president as a noam chomsky surrogate or some kind of pacifist dove. there is no space in american politics for a truly liberal or conservative president. that’s why when primaries end, the nominees scramble to prove they aren’t as liberal/conservative as they claimed they were during the primary. also keep in mind that the liberal-conservative distinctions fade quickly when it comes to foreign policy. there are a number of areas where both sides are more or less in sync…this applies to every country in the world.