Report Card on Obama From a New Frontiersman

As polls suggest that Obama's popularity is dropping - although it far outranks that of George W, not that that is all that difficult! - more and more questions are being asked whether all the rhetoric and hype is actually being "translated" into positives.

William Polk - who served as the Middle East expert on the State Department's Policy Planning Staff during the Kennedy administration - writing on CounterPunch:

"Probably like most of you, I am engaged in a daily attempt to make up my mind about President Obama. I was an early supporter.

And as a former Washington "player," I am aware how difficult is his position. I began to worry when he failed to grasp what I have seen to be the early window of opportunity for a new administration -- the first three months -- when the government is relatively fluid. As the months have flown by, I have seen that there are many positive things, mainly in his eloquent addresses on world problems, notably his speech at the University of Cairo on world pluralism, but also quite a few negative things. With sadness and alarm I find that my list of the negatives keeps on growing".

Read Polk's list of negatives here.

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Mahler's Prodigal Son

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