“In many essays, I have analyzed one of the primary delusions that afflicts many Democratic supporters and apologists. I say ‘afflicts,’ as if the problem is one forced upon innocent victims who unwillingly succumb to its symptoms. But such a characterization is frequently far too generous, especially when one considers the alacrity and enthusiasm with which prominent liberal and progressive writers and bloggers peddle obvious falsehoods. The specific delusion to which I refer is the utterly unfounded belief that ‘better’ Democrats generally and Obama more particularly, via helpfully unidentified, mysterious, miraculous means, will ‘transform’ the very nature of the United States as a political entity. (Obama, we are told with apparent seriousness, will change ‘the very nature of politics.’) Let it be noted that ‘hope’ of this kind — hope which disregards history, even very recent history, and which eagerly discards genuinely serious political analysis as ‘cynical’ or ‘irresponsible’ — is an exceedingly dangerous gateway drug, which may in time lead its users and countless truly innocent victims into a hell on earth beyond our worst imaginings.” (01/10/09)