Recommended: A Referendum on the Redeemer

Shelby Steele has an Op Ed piece Referendum on the Redeemer in today's Wall Street Journal that has an interesting and different take on President Obama in particular and the Democratic Party in general. Steele argues that Barak Obama is the first president we have had thus far who grew up in and was shaped by the 1960's counterculture period, a period that grew to see America as greedy and imperialist, and American's ideals as flawed and destructive. As a result, Steele argues, President Obama is not so much trying to lead the country as trying to redeem it.

I haven't really done Steele's argument justice in this short description - it is worth reading and thinking about the whole article.  But it does produce a different perspective on what has been happening over the past two years.