Come on 20 January! In saying that Suspect it is going to be a bit like happened here in Australia – elation at Howard’s defeat but growing disillusionment with his replacement who often continues the previous man of steal’s policies. or tweaks them.

As I said on another blog on this site, it is the position which makes the person, and so I think Obama will continue the wars overseas (emphasising Afghanistan rather than Iraq) and will possibly fix up some messes at home like health care.

But as to the US economic crisis? Stimulus packages don’t address low profit rates. Cutting wages and conditions and lengthening the unpaid working day might help (from a capitalist’s point of view.) So he may well continue the war on workers since profit is his game. Thus he cannot preside over a shift in wealth to workers. he will have to preside over a shift in wealth to bosses.

I don’t know how much room to manoeuvre there is in that regard. Average wages fell one per cent during Bush’s 8 long, dark, reactionary years. But the rich got much richer. The minimum wage is 5% lower.

Workers’ wealth (houses and super) has collapsed 20 per cent.

I am not sure Obama can or will address these issues since to do so involves a fundamental challenge to the rule of profit.

Let’s see what happens.

Lehrer’s comment was probably apocryphyl and I suspect there are many moments in history when our own biases find something just too upside down or bizarre that the comment about the death of satire comes to mind. It may also be that it is a convenient cliché for hacks like me.