“A truly historic presidency”—Rolling Stone tries to maintain the Myth

In his Rolling Stone article, "The Case for Obama," Tim Dickinson declares that the many indictments of Obama are selective and "grossly distort the sweep of the 44th presidency"—a presidency Dickinson hails as "truly historic." How an administration that represents in essence a continuation of the policies of those that preceded it can be hailed as such is baffling. Thankfully Dickinson acknowledges some examples of seeing the wood for the trees, taking care to include an early mention of The Nation and Tariq Ali's The Obama Syndrome:

Eric Alterman of The Nation distilled the left's lament this summer, arguing that Obama may have "fooled gullible progressives into believing he was a left-liberal partisan, when in fact he is much closer to a conservative corporate shill." The cover of The Obama Syndrome, a new jeremiad by the political commentator Tariq Ali, even gives the progressive resentment a lurid illustration: Obama's face is shown flaking away like a cheap plaster mask to reveal the chuckling visage of George W. Bush.

Visit Rolling Stone to read the article in full, or, for a clearer-eyed report, read The Obama Syndrome.