“For all the talk of polarization and partisanship in U.S. politics, what’s remarkable is the extent to which President Obama has continued policies and practices of his predecessor, George Bush, in domestic economics and military affairs. Economically, Obama has continued the bailout of Wall Street, maintained Bush-era tax cuts, pursued ’stimulus’ through large deficit spending and re-appointed Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman who was a Bush favorite. In defense, Obama has broken with Bush on a few critical matters, notably by canceling expensive weapons systems and dropping (in September) an aggressive plan to impose a ‘missile shield’ in Eastern Europe that Russia intensely opposed. Yet Obama has carried over Bush’s secretary of defense, Robert Gates; essentially stuck with Bush timetables on Iraq; and maintained historically record levels of Pentagon spending. The president has continued the war in Afghanistan, raising the number of American combat troops.” [editor’s note: To these eyes these latter (in)actions vastly outweigh the rhetorical and “diplomatic” stuff first cited - SAT] (10/09/09)