The promise of Obama's leadership never happened either. Change and hope went begging. He did sign a law that substantially overhauled the nation's health care system (though Congress did all the heavy lifting), but after that Obama punted on nearly everything else. He picked a group of Wall Street insiders to run the Treasury Department and to advise him, thus sending a clear signal that his promise of "change" didn't apply to our financial system. He punted entirely on climate legislation, even as the Gulf of Mexico oil spill tossed an important opportunity into his lap. Worse, his administration has recently opened new fields for oil-and-gas and coal exploration across the nation. He also expanded the war in Afghanistan, and refused to close the detention facility in Guantanamo, contrary to campaign promises… I could go on. Almost two-and-a-half years into his presidency, it looks like Business-as-Usual still rules in Washington, D.C. Issued an invitation to the White House, Change never made it past the reception room. At least it did better than Hope, which got left on a street corner.

Visiting New York this time, and thinking of Obama, I was struck by the fierce non-urgency of now. Everywhere I went, everything looked perfectly normal. Tides of people pooled and flowed across intersections as usual; taxi cabs honked as urgently and noisily as ever; elevators worked perfectly; food and drink could be had at nearly every street corner; the neon advertisements continued to shout their utopian messages with deafening effect; tourists swarmed the theaters and toy stores in Times Square as if gasoline were still $2.50-a-gallon; and the trees in   Central  Park   were   as   green   and   leafy  as   ever.   The   great