The way Saturday Night Live (SNL) parodied President Obama’s failure to follow through on campaign promises demonstrates why liberals have already become so disillusioned with his presidency.
For here, in part, is how his hopeful presidential checklist was lampooned on Saturday night by the show’s Barack Obama impersonator (who, incidentally, looks more like Pee Wee Herman than the president):
[L]ast year I was elected with a mandate to bring this country change we can believe in… [I]f you look at my record it is very clear what I have done so far, and that is nothing, nada; almost one year and nothing to show for it. You don’t believe me? You think I’m making it up? Take a look at this checklist:
On my first day in office I said I would close Guantanamo Bay. Is it closed yet? No! I said we’d be out of Iraq. Are we? Not the last time I checked. I said we’d make improvements on the war in Afghanistan. Is it better? No, I think it’s actually worse. How about health care reform? Hell no!
Now, I just don’t see why the right is so riled up. How do you think the left feels? They’re the ones that should be mad. I’m sure they feel I should have addressed at least one of the following by now:
Global warming? No. Immigration reform? No. Gays in the military? No, Limits on executive powers ? No. Torture prosecutions? No.
So, looking at this list, I’m seeing two big accomplishments: jack and squat. And remember, I can do whatever I want. I have majorities in both Houses of Congress…
But what makes this parody so devastating for Obama is the dismaying extent to which its insinuation that he’s all talk and no action rings true. In fact, the only way this bit could have been more devastating is if the person who impersonates Hillary Clinton on SNL had chimed in at the end with a shrill, “I told you so.”
Now comes word today that Obama has betrayed yet another campaign promise. And it’s noteworthy that this betrayal is getting both conservatives and liberals riled up in equal measure.
They’re upset because, in order to appease the Chinese, Obama has rejected the Dalai Lama’s request for a meeting at the White House this week. And this diss seems especially remiss given how Obama waxed indignant about China’s treatment of the Tibetan people during last year’s presidential campaign:
“If the Chinese do not take steps to help stop the genocide in Darfur and to respect the dignity, security, and human rights of the Tibetan people, then the President should boycott the opening ceremonies [of the Beijing Olympics].”
Of course, far from taking any of these steps, the Chinese have actually done more to exacerbate their appalling record on both counts. Yet, instead of demonstrating his disapproval by acting as he exhorted Bush to do, President Obama has joined a long list of national leaders who have caved in to China’s demand to shun the Dalai Lama – a man the Chinese dismiss as a “splittist” who has been on a 40-year mission to challenge the territorial integrity of their country.
Western leaders have made a mockery of their condemnation of the brutal crackdown on Tibetan monks by heeding China’s warning against meeting with the Dalai Lama in any official capacity. In fact, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown appeased the Chinese by barring him from No. 10, agreeing instead to meet only in private at the residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. This enabled Brown to claim that he was meeting the Dalai Lama “in a spiritual rather than political capacity.”
[Punishing China for its brutal crackdown on Tibet? Hardly…, TIJ, July 28, 2008]
To be fair, though, his spokesman, Robert Gibbs, insists that Obama’s meeting with the Dalai Lama was always scheduled for “later in the year.” But this seems like little more than political spin, given that the Dalai Lama will be in DC all week meeting with Congressional and civic leaders. Not to mention that it’s now customary for him to meet with the sitting president every time he visits the nation’s capital.
In fact, far more credible are reports that Obama is snubbing the Tibetan leader because the Chinese would consider such a meeting ahead of his state visit to China next month an insult. And frankly, given the unprecedented and unparalleled power China now has to affect the economic and geopolitical interests of the United States, appeasing the Chinese seems far more prudent than pusillanimous.
In any case, even though I sympathize with the disillusionment reflected in the SNL parody, I appreciate the political realities that compel Obama to govern, for now, more as a centrist than as a leftist. Moreover, I remain hopeful that the pragmatism he is showing today will inoculate him from (credible) criticisms by conservatives when he begins making good on his campaign promises, which I fully expect him to do in due course.
So give the brother a break!
Related commentaries:
Punishing China…
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.