Obama Back Trying To Trick People To Believe He Wants To Change Politics

Since kicking off his re-election bid with history's least enthusiastic campaign ad, Barack Obama is back on the campaign trail again, simultaneously presenting his dead-in-the-water deficit plan to the country and trying to get people excited to give him another four years in office. The problem, of course, is that it's hard for him to argue that orgasmic "Change" and "Hope" message again when Obama himself has seemed to give up on these things. "There have been times where I felt the same way you do," Obama said about the disappointments of his term to a crowd of "young supporters" (though he wasn't talking about enjoying keg stands) in Chicago. But obviously those "times" weren't, say, when he was doling out tax cuts to the insanely rich.

But Mr. Obama implored the crowd not to lose heart, declaring that the vision of America he laid out in his fiscal speech — one in which “we are connected to one another; that I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper” — would animate his campaign and drive the debate in the 2012 election.

Sly! The definition of "brothers and sisters" has changed since he used it in the last campaign. Then, it meant "Americans." Now, it means "millionaires and the Republicans I let hold everything hostage."

Obama also used "Yes We Can" the other night, which now is defined as "Yes I Can Decide the Situation Is Difficult and Do Things I Promised In 2008 I Wouldn't Do." "Change" now means "Change the Policies I Laid Out So Things Will Be Easier and I Will Get Re-Elected." And "Hope" is "Hope I Find Some Time To Remember Why I Supposedly Wanted This Job."

If Obama hadn't been the candidate who had the "vision and decision-making skills" to be "anti-Iraq War," he probably wouldn't have won the primaries. Now, more than two years into office, we're in more wars overseas than under Bush. And one of those, of course, is Iraq.

Will Obama still be able to trick people back into believing he wants to transform government and the country? Yeah, probably. [ NYT ]