Obama stays in the centre ground

What he calls the slow death of the left in America is the subject of Alexander Cockburn's article in the First Post this morning.

In it Cockburn argues that Barack Obama's watch is continuing a decline which started during the Carter administration.

The Bush years saw near extinction of the left's capacity for realistic political analysis.

but under Obama he says who

stepped into the Oval Office confident that the left would present no danger as he methodically pursues roughly the same agenda as Bush, catering to the requirements of the banks, the arms companies and the national security establishment in Washington, most notably the Israel lobby.

its influence in American politics is minimal