Our Little Indonesian

Since we have inauguration tomorrow, less than ten hours, I thought for the record I'd put down my present judgments.

--What does Barack believe? --Talk to five grad students, ask them what they believe, take the average... or just take any one of them at all, it won't matter, and you'll know what Barack believes... at least as well as he does.

--Note: This belief will be all "conscience", but no courage. And it will be pragmatic. Pragmatic here, as is general with the academic class, will mean self interest, but in "good conscience" of course, and for noble purpose.

--So Barack will be pragmatic, no doubt about it, and "pragmatic" will be whatever the press just loves. That means a lot of speeches and a noble thrusting out of his chin and a calling out for higher things. Fundamentally, domestically, that means he'll do what congress does. Internationally he'll just keep a lid on. He couldn't care less about America's strength in the world, or place, or wealth, or reputation, as long as his reputation is high. --International things are going to bite his butt, and at some point he will bomb somebody, just because he don't like gett'n his butt bit.

--What does he really want? I mean his inclinations, the deep things, not his "beliefs" such as whatever they might be:

--First, Adulation.
--Second, votes (same same).
--Third, Reform. This means crapping on absolutely everything normal Americans love, because he knows America is evil. He does want to protect the rest of the world from these people he rules, but won't work at it too hard because he actually doesn't care that much for the rest of the world either; he will focus on America because he knows America really needs work.
--And he wants power. For himself I think he just wants grandeur, but in as much as he actually has any political philosophy I think he wants power for government. Because he really does have a great deal of contempt for this land, for her history, for her inferior masses. He does want to set things right; and though he doesn't know quite what that means, he does know it means rule by the elite. (Probably will get some help from John.)

So there you have it. We have a President who's a foreigner and a snot, sort of half French and half East Asian. The question is: Does he have any political skill? I really doubt it, I think his only skill is image. As long as he's popular he will have power, but I suspect that behind closed doors just about any politician of experience, opposed to him, will be able to tie him in knots. Blago did it.

So? Four years...

Will the press turn against him? No, you can't turn against a black guy. If it turns out he's not black they could turn against him --Clarence Thomas, for example-- but I think he's black, that is liberal, so he'll always be just fine. Two exceptions: While they can't turn against a black guy, they can fall silent, and perhaps sometimes actually discuss issues or report news... and it is possible that "embarrassing" news might develop. And again, behind the scenes, there might be a tremendous struggle for power and turf, and I doubt very much he'll have any control over the government at all.

So who will be President, the one actually making the decisions? I know he has his publicity team, they'll continue full throttle, but who'll actually make policy? I just don't know. I expect it will become a mess of bailiwicks in conflict. A foreign policy flare-up will perhaps give the first indication of what he's made of. A flare-up is one area where there does have to be one President. I sure hope for something soon. (Foreign flare-ups do have a way of coming out of the blue.)

So: Indonesia, Hawaii, Harvard, Corruption (Chicago, that is) --that's what we've got for a President. A real American.

And I do think he's nuts, living in a total fantasy of entitlement narcissism: The World Is Me.

But we'll see.