Thus far in his life Obama has stood for nothing and believed nothing. He has bragged about being able to impersonate nothing so acutely and with such lack of detail that others are forced to project onto him a set of beliefs or a personality as if he were a practitioner of that useless school of psychotherapy that requires its shamans to wear black and to blend in with the background so as to be — absent. Obama has managed to achieve so much nothing in his short life that he has had to write not one but two books to contain it all. No means have served to force him into the daylight. Whenever presented with a difficult issue that might reveal his core beliefs he has simply voted “present.” Likewise, no method has been found to persuade his admirers and sycophants in the press to inquire of him as to his true inner nature. They do not wish to shatter the illusion they have created — not of him, but of Him.

And now this cipher, this enigma will lead the most powerful country the world has ever known. The question is… where?

No, Mr Alvin Lee always played a Gibson ES-335. He was a Gibson man to the core.

I loved that album, btw.

Chucks

A closer look at cabinet appointments indicates that the economic theater of operations will be one where very little change from the past eight years will be seen. Most of O’s appointments, while not free market enough to make clubbers all that happy, are nonetheless within the realm of what can be tolerated.

O will do the backpedaling he needs to do to keep the lunchpailers and regular-folk dems in the fold in the arena of economics.

Where he will repay the debt he owes to the Kos/DU/moveon/academic leftists is in the area of the cultural war on the West. Here is where he will reserve his energy and focus for radicalism. Greenred environmentalism, escalationg the war on conservative Christianity, promoting speech codes and hatecrime legislation, bringin back the “fairness” doctrine and extending it to the internet through net neutrality or some equivalent, limiting firearm freedom, increasing abortion, mandating a cultural Marxist public highschool curriculum – these and other areas of Gramscian termite damage will be where he stepss way out and does the radical thing.

Watch both hands of the magicican, folks, and don’t get too caught up in the economic thing.

Dunno… I miss defenestrations.
Does not have to be with pikes below the fenestrum, and the first floor is fine too. I would just love to hear those exclamations: “He (she) flies!”

One can dream… no?

The classic methods (guillotine, defenestration, axe and chopping block, bullet to the back of the head, etc, etc) have been replaced with free markets, free internal movement, and the ballot box.

Elites have the wherewithal to cling to power and can adapt. Smart ones do but too many fight to the bitter end.

Our current set of elites is feeling the heat. The market for advertising should soon bankrupt the New York Times. The power of the ballot box is causing countervailing pressures that delegitimize voting – see Franken’s effort in Minnesota. Academia seems pretty immune at the moment due to their institutional insulation – that’s why so many leftist flock there and have chosen it for their base.

Our task as citizens is to push for elite responsiveness if not turnover. If some adapt and respond to popular will, good for them. If not, we need a plan to push them off the stage.

A key indicator of how seriously Obama tends to fight this struggle is how he “right-sizes” the military. He could do political purges of the mid-rank officers and senior non-coms. The top brass is already so politicized that they will scramble for power under Obama in a value-less manner.

As others above have noted, the military returning from our current wars offer a rejuvination of our political will as a people, much like the Grand Old Army after the Civil War. Turning them out of the government employment will mean that they will enter politics as independents. Having fought shooting wars for our country, they seem to know WHY they fought. Most civilians are apolitical since a stable democracy has always been a given, in their lives. Our military are largely under no such comforting delusion.

If you want a specific example of a former military man entering politics, look to Assemblyman Chuck DeVore in California. His current ambition is to replace Barbara Boxer in the Senate. There are thousands like him across the country. This is where the hope of the Republic lies.

Conservative solutions and conservative ideas have largely been abandoned by most of the Republican leadership for the last three presidential election cycles.

Obama is going to screw up. HIs stimulus package ignores most of the private sector problems. It won’t work. Blago will cast a bad odor for a long time, and Resko is allegedly singing. Blackhedd at Redstate thinks that the Big 3 will back by March or April for yet another bailout, and that there will be much complaining about bailing out the autoworkers who paid double the average US wage.

So there will be opportunities.

Sure. But then you have to define for everyone what Ancien Regime means. Why not use the direct definition? Still an uphill battle, though, because the language has been un-moored by shifty manipulators to such a degree, that no one can be certain about meanings anymore. A liberal now really means a totalitarian-lite with a “compassion” mimicry. A progressive is really a regressive, longing for the times when there were just two classes–the rulers and the ruled…and who would be better rulers that them, o the haughty ones with Ivy League degree in Gender Studies?

Itsa orwellian world out there. I know that, you know that. But many don’t. Until spades are again spades, not much chance for a way out of this asylum.

The “Copperheads” destabilized the image of the Old Regime to slide Obama past the election. My argument was that they did this, possibly with financial manipulation by allies depending on how much of a conspiracy aficionado you are, to conceal from the public that the demonized Old Regime was not even in power.

Well, that is almost wheels within wheels. There was not much of purposeful concealment going on. Just demonizing, in spades, hoping that most of it would stick. Creating a scapegoat is a serious business, and if done well, you can conceal anything. This works on a personal level, where a sociopath can seriously damage your reputation. Sociopathic ideology just takes it to the next level. Works the same. The stated goals are really means, the real goal is power, pure and simple. And privileges that come with it.

Wish I could elaborate in a concise manner on this, but it would still amount to a decent length paper, so for now I skip it although it is a tempting subject. Not because how conspiracies work, but rather how they don’t usually work.

You say that Obama can not move for major structural changes. History shows that a President gets anything done in the first two years and does nothing for the remaining 2 to 6 years.

Sigh. He, of course, can. But the question is how is that likely. There seem to be a consensus, amongst powers that be, about conditions that would be desirable for a serious structural changes biz. It is a matter of untied ends and unintended consequences. There is not enough public support for sweeping changes yet. The pro/con distribution is approximately 50/50. Pushing it at this moment would lead to a serious disruption of the present order and it is hard to predict what path that may take. The generated economic crisis got sort of out of hand already, beyond the intended results (voter manipulation), and thus it may be desirable to keep things on a slow, imperceptibly incremental burn. The required demographics are 2/3 of voter pool. That would create the proper base for pushing the agenda. But today, it is not the time. It is not the time to create the civil force, too. The public reacted very negatively. The idea was rolled back almost as fast as it appeared.

That is not to say that 0 can’t go rogue, to a degree. He is a narcissist and thus a bit harder to control. But I have no doubt that he can be disposed of very fast, by turning the media poodles against him, if he tries something “innovative”. The system was primed and tested on Bush, and can be deployed tomorrow if needs to be. In fact, there may be a sort of a funder remorse going on already. 0 is not exactly the best tool for the present conditions. He would be an ideal tool if there was a better ratio of voters’ enthusiasm for structural changes. So, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that prior to the coronation, something really nasty would hit the pravda channels. A minute chance, but would not surprise me.

So to return to the question at hand for this thread, what happens “Going Forward?” Can the Grand Army of the Republic restore the traditional constitutional regime? Will the radicals of the left, with or without outside help, push for a radical change? Is Alexis right, the Treason of the Clerics by our Best and the Brightest will allow a new aristocracy to emerge and America will resume it’s successful path?

That depends. If the slow cooking is under control, meaning the economic situation does not get entirely out of hand and some positive correction is apparent after 2 years, a more rapid change may be on the go. But the risk is still that if it is initiated too early, then the resistance may be too strong and lead to breakdown in the society. So, it may have to wait for the whole term, to get people used to 0 as a “moderate” leader and kick it off when the mandate is there. That means they have to contain radical lefties’ enthusiasm somehow. No problem infiltrating radical blogs, money is there, just recycle the PR people with a new script and apply peer pressure.

I would rather see them to make a mistake and show their hand. That would result in stronger reaction and chances would be better to restore the former glory. With a slower process, though, rescheduled to 4 years, even possibly 8 years, they would only gain advantage and the process may be then irreversible. For generations.