The rapidity with which the "candidate of change" changes is astounding.

In choosing as his Vice President Joe Biden, a fixture that has been in the senate long enough to acquire cobwebs on his toupee, Obama has surrendered any claim to be the candidate of change in Washington. What Obama's choice really signifies is that the promises a primary candidate makes on the campaign trail "ain't worth a pitcher of warm p**s," as FDR's Vice President John Nance "Cactus Jack" Garner once said of the vice presidency...

Obama is an agent of change only in the sense that he is able to change his positions on major issues in a nanosecond, without repercussions. In American politics, hope always overcomes reality - at least in the short run and, in the long run, we are all dead. But Obama is something new under the political sun: He is a cynic wrapped in smiles, even a joyful cynic.

Obama, the Joyful Cynic, and the Pitcher