Obama doesn’t talk like Bush; he just acts like him

Liberal Ted Rall has had a good chance to inspect Obama in action, and doesn't like what he sees:

Obama’s inaugural address may have promised to “reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals,” but — in all the ways that matter — he’s keeping all of Bush’s outrageous policies in place. Sure, he talks a good game about “moving forward.” But nothing has really changed. From reading your e-mails to asserting the right to assassinate American citizens to bailing out companies whose executives pay themselves big bonuses, Obama’s changes are nothing but toothless rhetoric.

What? Obama's doing nothing but hanging new window dressing on an imperial agenda? Who could've seen that coming?

But that's how the game's played, boys and girls. It's always "us" against "them." "Our" candidate for Beloved Leader is better than "their" candidate because our candidate speaks the Holy Words. Patriotic but naive conservatives support the candidate who invokes "family values," "tradition," and "conservative," no matter that that candidate pushes an authoritarian agenda once in office.

And as Rall sadly observes, educated, cosmopolitan liberals fall for the same trick as Middle America:

Unlike the word count limit of this column, Obama’s perfidy knows no limits. He’s already become more dangerous to democracy and basic human rights than George W. Bush. Unlike Bush, he has no political opposition. Cheney may nitpick, but most Republicans are happy to see Bush’s policies remain in place. Meanwhile, liberals remain loyal, silent and tacitly pro-torture.

The good news is that Obama's radicalism has galvanized conservative opposition -- just as we'd hoped.

No doubt, Ted Rall will soon be denounced as an "unpatriotic liberal" for failing to toe his party's line.