It's useful in isolation because all presidents have the same theoretical goal: 100% honesty. It would be more useful if it could be compared to other presidents' records and the realistic expectations they've established, but it's OK on it's own.
Also, Obama established a sense of hope and “this time we mean it” that, say, Kerry never came close to. Obama breaking a campaign promise carries more weight than J. Random Politician, because most of us never believed the other guy in the first place.
PS: The Republican Party has a fantastic bipartisan icon in Eisenhower, but the Right of today is so unlike the Republicans of 50 years ago that they almost never mention him. I've heard them praise Nixon more than Eisenhower lately, and Nixon was a disaster. But he was the first of the modern Republicans, while Eisenhower was not.
Nixon came into power along with the Religious Right and our modern ideas of Red States and a Republican Party based below the Mason-Dixon line, while in Eisenhower's era, Republicans were still “the Party of Lincoln”. There are counties in the south that vote solidly Democrat to this day, not because they're remotely liberal, but because they're so reactionary they still haven't forgiven the Civil War… excuse me, the War of Northern Aggression.
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Date: 2009-09-13 02:36 pm (UTC)Also, Obama established a sense of hope and “this time we mean it” that, say, Kerry never came close to. Obama breaking a campaign promise carries more weight than J. Random Politician, because most of us never believed the other guy in the first place.
PS: The Republican Party has a fantastic bipartisan icon in Eisenhower, but the Right of today is so unlike the Republicans of 50 years ago that they almost never mention him. I've heard them praise Nixon more than Eisenhower lately, and Nixon was a disaster. But he was the first of the modern Republicans, while Eisenhower was not.
Nixon came into power along with the Religious Right and our modern ideas of Red States and a Republican Party based below the Mason-Dixon line, while in Eisenhower's era, Republicans were still “the Party of Lincoln”. There are counties in the south that vote solidly Democrat to this day, not because they're remotely liberal, but because they're so reactionary they still haven't forgiven the Civil War… excuse me, the War of Northern Aggression.