In today's political world, a degree of skepticism, even cynicism, is a useful tool, along with rational analysis. I think Greenwald delivers both in this article, quoting Richard Trumka for instance:
Listening to Obama talk about jobs and shared prosperity yesterday reminded me that we are back in campaign mode and Barack Obama has started doing again what he does best -- play the part of a progressive. He's good at it.
Yea, it's cynical, and coming from Trumka....well, maybe he's channeling his electorate. Then Greenwald delivers this zinger from his own mouth:
That's why -- after 2 1/2 years -- we suddenly see an outburst of "fighting for jobs" and, now, a call to raise taxes on the rich. He does that precisely because everyone -- especially the rich -- knows it will not and cannot happen. We're now formally in (re-)election season, so it's time again to haul out the progressive music. Some Democrats are honest and cynical enough to acknowledge that Obama is doing all these things purely for political gain and -- because his re-election is their top priority -- to celebrate it even while acknowledging it will never become reality (see here and here as examples). From that perspective, I suppose having him give speeches where he advocates for jobs and taxes on the rich is preferable to his endorsing austerity and Reaganomics as he had been doing for months But whatever else is true, none of this presages an actual change in how the government functions or, especially, on whose behalf it labors.
The here and here links in the above paragraph link to none other than Daily Kos's Armando, and Digby, both of whom essentially acknowledge that ain't nothin gonna change under the current Congress, but that doesn't matter, because the Pres is back to talking about progressive policies, like he did when he was running for the um, first presidential election.
The reality is, as Greenwald points out, there is absolutely no indication that anything of substance is going to change for the average American, except for the degree of progressive rhetoric that we are going to hear from now until the election, just as we heard from Obama leading up to his election as president. If any real change were going to happen, Obama would have cleaned house by now, getting rid of the those who helped perpetrate the financial meltdown, that are serving in his administration. Keeping Geithner in place, for example, is the other side of the coin of the lack of prosecutions of Wall Street criminals. Read Greenwald's column to determine for yourself the accuracy of his analysis. We'll see how well this rhetoric fairs after the carving up of our budget, and Medicare and Medicaid, by the, in my opinion, unconstitutional Super Congress.