Barack Obama's grand, ravaging bargain

“In exchange for ravaging the most popular and successful programs Democrats have ever produced, and for a vital chunk of nearly every American’s retirement savings, Barack Obama’s grand bargain would have meant accepting an entire economic philosophy diametrically opposed to the one he had run on. For the most basic principles of public life to be so readily malleable, even for a president, is to strip any meaning from democracy.” — Kevin Baker in “Why Vote? When your vote counts for nothing”, from the Oct, 2012 edition of Harper’s Magazine.