Just another tool.

Editor,

My own personal opinion is that President Obama is all talk and ultimately just another tool of the corporate aristocracy; viz., the bank bailout, the wars, the caving in on universal health care to name a few examples.

But what is truly interesting about this moment in history is that brazen lying on the part of the conservative faction in American society is as old as the republic. Read "The Rise of American Democracy Jefferson to Lincoln," by Sean Wilentz, and you will be amazed at the vitriolic falsehoods leveled at Thomas Jefferson and James Madison by the Federalists during and after John Adams's loss of the presidency to Jefferson in 1800.

Most Americans think that FOX News and Rush Limbaugh are an inherently new development in American politics, but their vitriol is hardly remarkable next to that of 18th-19th century proponents of rule by the wealthy elite.

re: "Obama Faces a Critical Moment for His Presidency" (9/7/2009)