Obama is already threatening his first veto - against a proposed resolution to block the disbursement of the next $350 billion for the corporate bailout from his own party. This is why the right wing has been so effective - they know how to stay on message, on task, and who they are fighting against (the entire McCain/Palin debacle aside). I'm not agreeing with Obama here at all - I think the corporate bailout is a massive mistake on a number of levels. As anyone who has read my blog for long knows, I welcome a total economic breakdown in this country as the only path to fixing our government and forcing the people to take back the power afforded them by our constitution.

It's like I blogged yesterday in my chess entry,  you've got to have enough people sticking together on enough of the big things to make a difference. If the left, center-left, or even the center can't do so much as that then look for another Bushish era starting in 2012. Agree with the bailout or not, but if the lefter (as Melanie likes to say) party in our country doesn't get their agenda together, and more specifically if Obama doesn't fullfill his campaign promises of doing so, real change isn't coming.

I'm not convinced that any mainstream politician, like Obama, who can get enough support from the "powers that be" to get elected president is truly capable of leading the long-established trones of power in this country in an entirely new direction. This country is the Titanic and the corporations and money that dictate the course of our ship have ensured that our rudder is too small to make sudden, drastic changes in our course. Obama can call out "hard to port" if he likes, but that doesn't change our rudder design one damn bit.