Chris,
Although I’m no expert on either FDR or Clinton, you’re right—I did have particular events in mind when I suggested that Obama might fall in line with their kind of politics.
When FDR first campaigned against Herbert Hoover in 1932, his campaign pledges looked something like this:
“immediate and drastic reductions of all public expenditures,” “abolishing useless commissions and offices, consolidating bureaus and eliminating extravagances, reductions in bureaucracy,” and … a “sound currency to be maintained at all hazards.” (from Wikipedia)
Yet, as we all know, FDR ended up doing the exact opposite. He increased public expenditures (including $3.3 million spent through the Public Works Administration) and added more offices and bureaucracies to government (including the invention of Social Security). Obviously, I’m not a big fan of what he did, but that’s beside the point: his campaign simply didn’t match his actions.
Moving on to Clinton: I don’t know if you can leave aside his lying (particularly when you said you find him a “likable and reasonable guy” – can you really trust those impressions when you know they’re of a pathological liar?), but that wasn’t what I had in mind when I wrote my initial post.
That event (and unfortunately, I don’t have specific dates or footnotes) was mid-to-late during his second term, when Clinton shuffled some bombs into Iraq for a few days to give the press something to talk about other than his sexual misconduct.
Both presidents were primarily interested in keeping hold of their power (especially Clinton, since in America, popularity is power). They could say one thing, but what they did was something far different. And it strikes me that Obama has so far (according the voting record and conduct that Freddoso lays out) done much the same. Let’s talk about emotional things like hope and change, but God forbid that we should actually try and tackle the hard issues. Let’s leave things the way they are. Yeah, that’s hope and change alright. Give me four years of that.
That second picture is obscene, just like our current design. I’m giving this a negative rating.