As for governing, I don't think that an Obama admin will have the luxury, one that Clinton had in the 90s, of achieving mere incremental change.  Not with the solid Dem majority O is likely to have in 2009, not with the major problems pressing on this country today, very unlike the mere mid-level problems facing the country back in 92.

Much will be expected of Obama and the Dem Congress, and tepid half-measures in legislation and milquetoast moderate appointments won't be acceptable for long with an impatient party and populace.  

Make no mistake about it: he is only using the Democratic Party as stepping stool on the way up, just as he's used Chicago activist community, Jeremiah Wright's church, and everyone else he's been associated with. Once in office, he'll discard the Democrats, the Kossacks, the TPMers and, yes, the TalkLefters just as he's discarded everyone else.

After the social tumult of the '60s capitalism usurped resistance itself, turning attempts at subversion into commodities.

My problem with Obama is that I believe he is a charlatan.

A silver-tongued gifted orator, that came forward espousing how much of 'a different kind of politician' he was... turning a page from the old politics.  But as the campaign unfolded, with Rezko/Wright/Ayers/No-Pac money pledge/Hopefund/Exelon/FISA,etc. I find EXACTLY the same kind of politician... and lots of 'Old Politics' as usual.

Again, to me only, I began to develop a problem, whereby every time I hear him speak - I think he's going to sell me something I don't want to buy.... and then he's going to sell me down the river too.

Right now, to me, they are about 2 inches apart in policy.  Remember, McCain was the first "Maverick", and if Obama thinks he is going to gain ground on taking a centrist tack on that level, he's got another thing coming.  The media crowned McCain the more independent/moderate thinker.

Obama is liberal in Hyde Park and in his safe enclaves.  But in front of a larger group, he ain't no progressive.  Thanks Jeralyn for pointing out the obvious but your observations solidify my gravitation towards the Greens.  If the Dems cannot put forth someone who knows who to take "safe" paths towards elected office without abandoning Dem ideals, the party is dead.  FDR is our standard bearer...wonder else who came close?  

And I think liberals, progressives and even centrists are going to learn this more and more in the days and weeks ahead.

I'm reminded of a quote from CITIZEN KANE:

I suppose he had a private sort of greatness, but he kept it to himself.

He strikes me as decidedly non-ideological myself.  I see his liberalism, to the extent there is a record of it, as having been driven more by the reality of being a black politician in inner city Chicago than anything else.  You aren't going to get ahead there as a conservative.  I think he's far more of a pragmatist than either Clinton could ever dream of.  For them, pragmatism is an approach.  I suspect for Obama it is a belief system.

So where does that leave us?  Well being a pragmatist with a D attached at the end of his name means he'll have to make the center-left his starting point for compromise rather than center-right.  So I suspect we'll get center-left judges rather than center-right etc.  But I'd fully expect him to be unabashed about compromising away liberal positions when convenient to his own power or idiosyncratic viewpoints.  School vouchers for instance or faith-based initiatives for another.

And one other thing that I believe about Obama is that he is a company man through and through.  Money grants power after all.  So I expect regulation and reform to be as dirty a word as a Dem can passably make it under Obama.

All the above, if true, is disappointing, but still much better than McCain policy-wise.  I'll readily grant that.  Getting the half loaf rather than none is typically preferable.  But then again not always.  Are there considerations that trump policy, even in admittedly desperate times like these?

• Protesting the corruption of the process and the rot in the party itself, that many see.
  
• Not trusting that the man has any empathy or respect for who you are and what you need from your government, which many don't.
  
• Refusing to validate the "Obama Movement," which many find appalling.
  
• Not trusting the man's character or qualifications, which many don't.
  
• Refusing to reward dirty tactics like race-baiting your fellow good Dems and unabashedly profiting off sexism, which many believe went beyond the pale of decency even for politics.  
  
• Expressing disappointment that your preferred candidate, and very nearly the first woman POTUS, got screwed, which many can't forget.