Obama begins to “lower expectations” for a Democratic White House

In both interviews and press accounts, the Democrats have sought to lay the basis for a repudiation of their election promises. The London Times reported Friday, "Barack Obama's senior advisers have drawn up plans to lower expectations for his presidency if he wins next week's election, amid concerns that many of his euphoric supporters are harboring unrealistic hopes of what he can achieve. The sudden financial crisis and the prospect of a deep and painful recession have increased the urgency inside the Obama team to bring people down to earth."

The candidate himself has taken the lead in expectation-lowering. In a speech in Sarasota, Florida on Thursday, Obama reiterated a theme he has begun sounding regularly at campaign appearances. "I won't stand here and pretend that any of this will be easy—especially now," he said, citing "the cost of this economic crisis, and the cost of the war in Iraq" as reasons it would be difficult to carry out promises like extending health care coverage.

Sounding more like the advocate of austerity policies than of an expansion of social benefits, he declared, "Washington will have to tighten its belt and put off spending on things we don't need. As president, I will go through the federal budget, line-by-line, ending programs that we don't need and making the ones we do need work better and cost less."

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http://wsws.org/articles/2008/nov2008/obam-n01.shtml