Starting Gate: Hope Or Irrational Exuberance?
Barack Obama opened his campaign with a message of “hope” and “change” and he’s closing it the same way. What’s changed from here to there is not what he’s pitching but the circumstances in which he’s selling it.
Two years ago, Obama opened his argument largely based on his initial opposition to the war in Iraq, targeting a Democratic Party whose opposition to that war had grown exponentially since Howard Dean used it to propel his campaign in 2004. Now, he’s closing it amidst an economic crisis and signs of a deep and lasting economic recession. In both cases, public sentiment has been strongly on his side, but is it real “change” or a case of what Alan Greenspan once called “irrational exuberance?”
Two years ago, Obama opened his argument largely based on his initial opposition to the war in Iraq, targeting a Democratic Party whose opposition to that war had grown exponentially since Howard Dean used it to propel his campaign in 2004. Now, he’s closing it amidst an economic crisis and signs of a deep and lasting economic recession. In both cases, public sentiment has been strongly on his side, but is it real “change” or a case of what Alan Greenspan once called “irrational exuberance?”
Mike Huckabee on GOP "rock stars," 2012, health care reform and more.
