From ward politician to demagogue in one easy election
Don't know whether Barama is corrupt but I do know that his politics are those of the ward. He buys and sells favors with the best of them and in a very real way (and sad for this country) it is easy to understand how he was elected by his actions.
If we look at his administration, it is virtually a clone of the Clinton Administration. Once it became apparent that Hillary and her advisors needed Bill to shut up and stop taking the spotlight, all of her draw was gone. Whatever one thinks of Bubba two points are clear: he is probably one of the best at raising money; and, Bubba probably knows ward politics better than Barama. People owe Bubba. Those chits couldn't get Hillary nominated because, well, …, let's be honest, we're not ready for a women (otherwise, Palin would not have been so unrelentingly skewered); Bill casts too large a shadow; and, Hillary is ... "Shrillary". The payoff is Bill is back in the national arena - he is already out stumping for Health Care even though he is just an "ordinary" citizen.
Another factor was the Kennedy Health Care legacy which Hill would have pushed with an equal amount of vigor - but then it wouldn't have been Teddy's. Kennedy needed a Health Care Plan to pass in order to seal his place in the pantheon of legislative palliatives. Barama could not care less about pride of authorship - that is for minor megalomaniacs like Teddy - but his support in 2008 was crucial to the election outcome (no doubt, Kennedy called some markers as well). Unfortunately, a little detail got in Ted's way to immortalization.
One of the clearest examples of Barama's ward mentality is his "intervention" in a local police matter in New Haven involving a officer and a professor. Why Barama saw fit to speak out on a matter about which he had limited-to-no knowledge (ostensibly, he believed it was racially motivated) and then try to reconcile the differences over a beer at the White House is so incomprehensible except that it is the way of the ward. Just think what that says to our children - the best way to solve a problem is over a drink! Barama's continued attempts to translate local relationship management into policy on the national (and, for that matter, international) political level, is a clear example of a condition which Hayek referred to as the "fatal conceit".
With each passing day, on an ever widening number of issues (consider his latest stance on increasing time in the school-year for children), Barama becomes more and more bold in his dictatorial stance. He is continually on the stump for entitlements which he is paying for by pandering to the envy which the less fortunate harbor for the better standard of living which others enjoy, pitting one group against another. Re-listen to some of his speeches and try to ignore the demagoguery! No wonder he has reached out to Chavez and Castro (why is Castro still in power after 50 years; is there no one other than his brother who can lead that nation) - it won't be long before Barama will suggest doing away with term limits because "there is a lot of work yet to be done" in this ward.
