Not only does the latest Newsweek include the gift of a foreign-affairs speech written for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, the magazine also includes a column from the chief anchor of BBC World News America, who looks past the pesky election season to forecast the European impact of the impending Obama presidency.
The anchor, Matt Frei, assures us that Europeans are as excited about Sen. Obama as the throngs who attend his campaign rallies. But Frei delivers a warning to his Old World friends:
But Europeans need to remember that they do not have the power to make Obama president, nor to make his presidency a success. Only American supporters?in numbers sufficient for him to overcome some fairly entrenched interests in Washington?do.
Just what entrenched interests is he talking about? Could some of them be members of the permanent Washington establishment? The people whose livelihood depends on government? The people who stand around capital-area cocktail parties and discuss their future roles in government agencies?
If so, then Frei should flip the eight pages from his article to find the latest musings from Evan Thomas, who recounts a recent Washington party at which guests discussed the roles their friends might play in an Obama administration.
The fact is that Washington is largely dominated by people, some of them very smart, who get paid well to represent the status quo and fairly narrow interests.
These people are not by any means wicked or unjust or venal?some of the guests at the party had performed significant public services in one way or another. Many of them were Democrats who will vote for Obama. But I am sure that if you took a poll and asked them whether Obama could really change Washington?could really close loopholes on energy companies and raise taxes on the rich; reform the health-care system; significantly scale back the ill effects of global warming; substantially improve public schools, or get us out of Iraq any time soon?the answer would be no, probably not.
No one could accuse presumptive Republican nominee John McCain of being an outsider, but no one should buy Frei?s assertion that an Obama win would involve overcoming ?some fairly entrenched interests in Washington.”
