Kabuki Democracy The System vs. Barack Obama

In this "agenda-setting" polemic, journalist and historian Eric Alterman explains what is really happening with the Obama presidency. While Obamars"s many compromises have disappointed liberals, Alterman argues that these concessions are largely due to a political system that is rigged against progressive change. These structural impediments to democracy have made the keeping of Obamars"s campaign promises all but impossible. Brilliantly blending incisive political analysis with a clear agenda for change,Kabuki Democracycuts through the clicheacute;s of conservative propaganda and lazy mainstream media analysis to demonstrate that genuine "change" will come to America only when people care enough to challenge the system.

Eric Alterman is a Distinguished Professor of English and Journalism at Brooklyn College and CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, a columnist for The Nation, Moment, and The Daily Beast, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, a Fellow at the Nation Institute, and the author of seven books, including the national bestseller, What Liberal Media? He lives in New York City.